GERMANY: OPEN TO GREATER COOPERATION WITH THE U.S.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001436

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID PHUM PREF UNDP UN
SUBJECT: GERMANY: OPEN TO GREATER COOPERATION WITH THE U.S.
ON INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT RESPONSE AND PREVENTION


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Officials at the German Center for
International Peace Operations (ZIF) told visiting S/CRS
Deputy Coordinator Larry Sampler October 16 that they would
welcome greater cooperation with S/CRS and invited the U.S.
to send one or more representatives to a December 11-12
international meeting in Berlin for alert roster managers.
The Director of ZIF also welcomed U.S. participation in ZIF
training courses and was very open to sharing best practices
and lessons learned, including about screening and selecting
staff. While ZIF is fully operational -- with some 180
German civilian specialists currently serving in UN, EU and
OSCE field missions around the world -- it has never
developed its own doctrine on peace operations, figuring that
there is already "enough doctrine out there." At the Foreign
Office, the Director of Conflict Prevention, Reconstruction
and Stabilization highlighted that Germany had dramatically
increased its budget for crisis and conflict prevention
programs over the past two years, going from 12 million Euros
in 2007 to 63 million Euros in 2008 and an expected 89
million Euros in 2009. This reflects a new conviction that
it is far better to prevent conflict and crisis than to have
to deal with the consequences of inaction. END SUMMARY.

INTERLOCUTORS


2. (SBU) During an October 16 visit to Berlin, Donald L.
Sampler, Deputy Coordinator at the Office of the Coordinator
of Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS),met with the
Director of the German Center for International Peace
Operations (Zentrum fuer Internationale Friedeneinsaetze --
ZIF),Winrich Kuehne, as well as with the Head of Recruitment
at ZIF, Jens Behrendt. Sampler also met separately with the
Office Director of Conflict Prevention, Reconstruction and
Stabilization at the Federal Foreign Office, Stefan
Schlueter.

FOSTERING GREATER CONTACT BETWEEN ZIF AND S/CRS


3. (SBU) During his meeting at ZIF, Sampler noted that S/CRS
and ZIF are similar organizations with similar mandates and
thought both would benefit from greater contact with one
another. Both Kuehne and Behren agreed and immediately
invited the U.S. to send one or more representatives to an
experts-level meeting that ZIF is hosting in Berlin December
11-12 for managers of alert rosters. Noting that
representatives from several countries and organizations
(including the UN, EU, OSCE and African Union) were planning
to attend, Behrendt said that one objective of the meeting
was to see how far the international community had come in
meeting the goals of the 2000 Brahimi Report on UN Peace
Operations, especially in establishing rosters of
pre-selected civilian experts able to deploy on short notice.


4. (SBU) Kuehne and Behrendt also provided Sampler with a
list of all training courses ZIF plans to offer in 2009 and
said they would welcome U.S. participation. The courses
range in length from one to three weeks and include
specialist courses on security, election observation,
negotiation and mediation, rule of law and field first aid.
ZIF also offers a two-week "core course" in peace operations
twice a year, which is a pre-requisite (in the absence of
other qualifying experience) for being included on ZIF's
alert roster of pre-selected German civilian specialists
(which current numbers about 600). The core course includes
sessions on cultural awareness, human rights, use of
four-wheel drive vehicles, personal security and working with
interpreters. Kuehne and Behrendt noted that in the early
years of ZIF's existence (ZIF was established in 2002),the
emphasis was on training ZIF's own personnel, but that now
roughly a third of all participants in ZIF courses are
non-German. All ZIF courses, even those with only German
attendees, are conducted in English, since good English
capability is considered indispensable for working in
international peace operations. Sampler expressed
appreciation for the opportunity to send U.S. representative
to the ZIF training and promised to be in touch.

NO DOCTRINE -- JUST DOING IT


5. (SBU) Kuehne and Behrendt noted that while ZIF is fully
operational with some 180 German civilian specialists
currently serving in UN, EU and OSCE field missions around
the world, it has never developed doctrine on peace
operations. Kuehne noted that the closest thing Germany has
to any doctrine in this field was in the 2006 White Book on
German Security Policy. He dismissed the idea of ZIF trying
to develop its own doctrine, arguing that there was already
"enough doctrine out there" and that the process would
distract ZIF from its operational work. Kuehne noted that
representatives from the United States Institute of Peace
(USP) and the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations

BERLIN 00001436 002 OF 002


Institute (PKSOI) had just visited ZIF recently, introducing
and seeking feedback on their draft "Handbook of Guiding
Principles for Peace Operations." Sampler emphasized that
while the Handbook was useful, the USG was not prepared to
endorse it as U.S. doctrine.


6. (SBU) Sampler said he had the impression that ZIF was one
or two years ahead of S/CRS in recruiting, training and
deploying civilian specialists and that S/CRS could therefore
benefit from ZIF's experience. Kuehne was very open to
sharing best practices and lessons learned with S/CRS,
including about screening and selecting staff. Kuehne noted
that one of ZIF's mandates when it was created in 2002 was to
integrate into one single alert roster all of the individual
rosters maintained by separate government ministries. He
argued that this had brought coherence to a previously
fragmented system. Sampler acknowledged the benefits of
maintaining and using a single alert roster, but expressed
doubts about whether that would be possible in the U.S.
context.

FOLLOW-UP TO COPENHAGEN MEETING


7. (SBU) At the Foreign Office, Sampler followed up with
Schlueter regarding the results of the October 1 UNDP
conference in Copenhagen on "early recovery" of post-conflict
states, which both had attended. They agreed that much work
remains to be done to flesh out the new concept of "early
recovery" before the UNSC-mandated report on implementation
was due in May 2009.


8. (SBU) Schleuter also highlighted that the Foreign Office
had dramatically increased its budget for crisis and conflict
prevention programs over the past two years, going from 12
million Euros in 2007 to 63 million Euros in 2008 and an
expected 89 million Euros in 2009. Schleuter said this
reflected a new conviction that it was far better to prevent
conflict and crisis than to have to deal with the
consequences of inaction. He said the increased resources
also reflected Germany's re-dedication to trying to reach the
UN Millennium Goal of spending at least 0.7% of GNP on
development assistance.
Pollard