Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BEIRUT1555
2008-10-31 07:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beirut
Cable title:  

LEBANON: UNDP COUNTRY DIRECTOR, WITH A/S HOOK,

Tags:  PGOV PINR PREL UNSC LE 
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VZCZCXRO1777
PP RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHLB #1555/01 3050740
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 310740Z OCT 08 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3408
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 3103
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 3312
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 001555 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA, PM/FO
P FOR DRUSSELL, RRANGASWAMY
USUN FOR KHALIZAD/WOLFF/SCHEDLEBAUER
NSC FOR ABRAMS/YERGER/MCDERMOTT/RAMCHAND
OSD FOR EDELMAN/LONG/STRAUB/DALTON
JOINT STAFF FOR RANK/NICHOLSON
CENTCOM FOR ALLARDICE/MACLEAN/PADDOCK
DIA FOR LARSON/CRONIN/KRAUSE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/29/2018
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL UNSC LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: UNDP COUNTRY DIRECTOR, WITH A/S HOOK,
OUTLINES PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES

REF: BEIRUT 1521

BEIRUT 00001555 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 001555

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA, PM/FO
P FOR DRUSSELL, RRANGASWAMY
USUN FOR KHALIZAD/WOLFF/SCHEDLEBAUER
NSC FOR ABRAMS/YERGER/MCDERMOTT/RAMCHAND
OSD FOR EDELMAN/LONG/STRAUB/DALTON
JOINT STAFF FOR RANK/NICHOLSON
CENTCOM FOR ALLARDICE/MACLEAN/PADDOCK
DIA FOR LARSON/CRONIN/KRAUSE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/29/2018
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL UNSC LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: UNDP COUNTRY DIRECTOR, WITH A/S HOOK,
OUTLINES PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES

REF: BEIRUT 1521

BEIRUT 00001555 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) During an October 30 meeting with Assistant Secretary
for International Organization Affairs Brian Hook, UN
Development Program (UNDP) Country Director Marta Ruedas
stated that the key priorities for UNDP in Lebanon were
governance, community and economic development, the
environment, and peace building/conflict resolution. In
2008, UNDP shifted its focus away from south Lebanon to the
more underserved areas in the north. She characterized the
United Nations country team in Lebanon as "harmonious" and
said that different agencies were able to work well on
cross-cutting issues. Ruedas also focused on UNDP's role as
a coordinator for donors on important and politically
sensitive issues in Lebanon, such as electoral reform, the
upcoming parliamentary elections, and technical support for
President Sleiman's resumption of the National Dialogue.
Operationally, increased security requirements are UNDP's
greatest challenges due to the expense and constraints it
places on programs and employees.


2. (C) During a separate conversation with the Ambassador,
Ruedas said that the UN would definitely not/not be sending
an election observer mission, but she confirmed that the EU
would be sending a mission. Ruedas also believed that any
Arab League monitors would only be on the ground for a short
period of time. In regards to the Ambassador's previous
suggestion to form a donor sub-group to discuss security
assistance for the elections (reftel),Ruedas said that the
UK and others had expressed an interest. Finally, turning to
the upcoming Interfaith Dialogue on November 12 - 13, Ruedas
mentioned that the Israelis were reportedly sending a

high-level delegation. End Summary

UNDP Profile in Lebanon
--------------


3. (C) A/S Hook asked Ruedas to describe the current UN
priorities on the ground. She described the UN team as
"semi-integrated." All UN agencies report to the UN Special
Coordinator (UNSCOL),with the exception of UNIFIL.
"European donor countries had concerns about placing that
operation under the 'political' umbrella of UNSCOL. But in
actuality, we all coordinate quite well and UNDP has
partnered with UNIFIL on some development initiatives in the
south."


4. (C) Ruedas, who served as Acting UNSCOL for the last eight
months, admitted that it was sometimes a challenge to
coordinate development initiatives that also take into
account political considerations. "We are operational and
focused in the field. UNSCOL looks at national and regional
issues with a different perspective." While some overlapping
issues have progressed well, such as the electoral reform
procedures and technical support for the National Dialogue,
different priorities require a different focus. Matters are
further complicated when drawing on disparate sources of
funding.


5. (C) When asked specifically about UNDP's budget for
Lebanon, Ruedas said funding for 2007 had been approximately
USD 27 million and was expected to increase to USD 40 million
in 2008. Roughly 30 percent comes from central UN funding
sources, 40 percent comes from the Government of Lebanon
(GOL),and 30 percent comes from a variety of other donors.
Forty five percent of funds are used for governance
activities, such as the program administration units (PAU)
that had been established in Lebanese ministries to focus on
key areas of reform. "Initially, I thought this program
should be phased out, but the GOL paid for most of the

BEIRUT 00001555 002 OF 003


salaries and the experts who staffed these units have been
indispensable, as the civil service is in shambles." Twenty
to twenty-five percent of the budget goes to community and
economic development activities, environment comes in third,
and peace building/conflict prevention is a smaller
percentage, but can vary in response to events, such as the
Nahr al-Barid (NAB) emergency.


6. (C) Looking forward, Ruedas explained that UNDP had
decided to cut back activities in the south, which became
saturated with international assistance programs after the
July 2006 war. Support for the National Dialogue, donor
coordination for electoral reform, economic development in
the northern border areas, and coordination with UNRWA for
NAB had become higher priorities. When asked how she and her
team plan their budget, Ruedas said that they first focus on
developing great ideas and strong program plans. In her
experience, donors come forward to support well-crafted
proposals.

Details on Target Areas
--------------


7. (C) During her conversation with the Ambassador, Ruedas
provided more detail on the UNDP's priorities:

Governance and Peace Building/Conflict Resolution - Ruedas
reiterated that, currently, electoral reform issues and donor
coordination comprise about 60 percent of UNDP's workload.
Technical support for the National Dialogue had been critical
and the UN is able to play a support role on this sensitive
issue while bilateral donors cannot. "The office of the
presidency had been empty for months and essentially
meaningless before under President Lahoud. We had to start
from the ground up with basic support, such as computers and
staff. We have also tried to guide the president's office by
offering suggestions about how to effectively run a
reconciliation program in a post-conflict situation." UNDP
is also committed to long-term reform initiatives to increase
transparency in government and citizen participation.
Looking forward, Ruedas said that governance support would
continue through the 2010 municipal elections and said she
was also hoping to begin a study to examine municipal
decentralization, although she admitted that this will be a
highly controversial topic.

Environment - Climate change is a priority area, although
Ruedas said that this is not a central concern for Lebanese
citizens. Plans are underway for a "Beautiful Beirut"
program, which aims to promote environmental awareness and
citizen political participation at the same time. UNDP is
supporting private sector initiatives geared towards energy
efficiency by conducting voluntary energy audits. "The
private sector is ahead of civil society on this issue." She
said that the GOL had passed a number of laws which make them
eligible to participate in international carbon trading
programs and UNDP will employ a team to build capacity on
this topic. Ruedas also called water a key issue for
Lebanon, in addition to forestry and flood prevention. A/S
Hook asked why the Lebanese, and others in the region, were
not more concerned at a grassroots level with environmental
issues. Referring to her home country of Spain, Ruedas
replied that the issue is closely tied to the provision of
municipal services. "Sometimes the state has to take the
lead on clean-up activities before the people, who may be
more concerned about security or economic issues, catch on."

Community and Economic Development - UNDP is working with the
Ministry of Economy and Trade to set up four local economic
development agencies throughout the country. Ruedas also
told us that a study has been completed which supports the
need for economic development in the border areas of Lebanon.
"Income substitution won't work - farmers will never make as
much money as they can with illegal crops. However, improved
infrastructure and roads which connect the rural farmers to
Lebanese vice Syrian markets would do more to encourage the

BEIRUT 00001555 003 OF 003


growth of legal crops."

Operational Opportunities and Challenges
--------------


8. (C) As previously mentioned, Ruedas takes her donor
coordination role seriously. "We have an on-going dialogue
with both donors and the government so that there are never
any surprises." She also said that many of the key
ministries are understaffed and simply don't have the
capacity to carry out a coordination role. "We are
coordinating on electoral reform support so that the Ministry
of Interior can actually focus on election administration."
Finally, she feels that the UNDP plays a key support role for
a number of the smaller resident embassies in Lebanon. "We
have a long-standing presence on the ground and we used our
contacts to help embassies find the appropriate contacts in
the youth for assistance programs in 2006."


9. (C) Speaking frankly, Ruedas told us that increasing
security requirements pose a particular challenge for UNDP,
both in Lebanon and abroad. First, she is concerned about
the expense of security upgrades to facilities and told us
that she had been forced to postpone other administrative
projects in order to address these first. Secondly, she is
concerned that the worldwide environment has created a
culture that wants to completely avoid risk instead of
managing it intelligently. "At the end of the day, we still
have to carry out our missions."

UN Not Fielding Electoral Observers
--------------


10. (C) During a separate conversation with the Ambassador,
Ruedas said that the UN would definitely not/not be sending
an election observer mission. "We are providing technical
assistance and we rarely do both activities on the ground at
the same time. It could be seen as a conflict of interest."
She confirmed that the EU would send a mission and dismissed
suggestions from Lebanese contacts that member states who
provide troops to UNIFIL should be excluded. "That won't
happen. I know the French will insist on participating in
the observer mission and I am sure others will do so, as
well."


11. (C) When asked if the Arab League would send observers,
as had been suggested by PM Siniora, Ruedas said she thought
they would just "parachute in" right before the election to
signify their commitment to the Doha agreement and express a
desire for a peaceful election. "They won't field a
long-term mission and it is highly unlikely that they will
report specifically on the electoral reform measures."


12. (C) Ruedas said that the UK and other donors had
expressed interest in the Ambassador's suggestion to form a
donor sub-group to discuss security assistance for the
elections (reftel).

Israelis to Attend Inter-Faith Dialogue
--------------


13. (C) Ruedas mentioned that the Israelis were reportedly
sending a high-level delegation to the Interfaith Dialogue on
November 12 - 13 in New York, which is unusual for an event
that will also be attended by Arab leaders.


14. (C) A/S Hook has cleared this cable.

SISON