NEW YORK CONSULTATIONS ON UN EFFORT IN IRAQ

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000087

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/29/2013
TAGS: PREL PGOV UNSC IZ
SUBJECT: NEW YORK CONSULTATIONS ON UN EFFORT IN IRAQ

REF: A. BAGHDAD 203

B. STATE 168690

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Classified By: political counselor jeffrey delaurentis for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

Summary
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1. (C) Following recent consultations on UNAMI with senior
UN officials, including U/SYG Pascoe, Special Representative
de Mistura, and UNHCR New York Director Bertrand USUN has
confirmed the following. On staffing, UNHCR has placed a
senior professional staff member full-time in Baghdad,
assigned a second professional who will re-locate to Baghdad
shortly, and is planning to increase the number of full-time
professional staff based in Iraq to a total of five. These
assignments will be confirmed following a visit by UNHCR High
Commissioner Guterres to Iraq, Syria and Jordan scheduled for
February. UN headquarters has dismissed the argument that
security-imposed restrictions on staffing prevent UNHCR or
other UN agencies from assignment to Baghdad. On the new
compound for UNAMI, the UN has also agreed to place a hold on
its current plan in order to explore the viability of the
"Georgian compound." On implementing UNAMI's expanded
Security Council mandate, de Mistura confirmed he is seeking
to start with "positive examples (of UN assistance) in soft
areas" in order to win Iraqi backing to tackle more sensitive
subjects, in particular regional engagement. He opined that
"no one is totally serious" about regional dialogue. De
Mistura defined UNAMI's immediate focus as support and
assistance on boundary disputes, refugees/IDPs, provincial
elections, and implementation of Iraq's Compact. The envoy
also praised the Secretariat for its support to UNAMI, noting
that Pascoe, as a former Ambassador, "understands how to
support a running team."

Consultations in New York
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2. (C) Seeking to encourage UN efforts to satisfactorily
fulfill the mandate of UNSC Resolution 1770, which expands
the tasks assigned to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq
(UNAMI),Amb Khalilzad met January 17 with UN Under
Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe and his

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Iraq team and on January 21 with Special Representative
Steffan de Mistura, who was in New York for the quarterly
Security Council briefing on Iraq (septel). USUN also met
January 25 with Pierre Bertrand the director of UNHCR's New
York office, and UNHCR senior policy advisor Emmy Takahashi.


3. (C) In his meeting with Pascoe and six members of the
UN's Iraq team, Amb Khalilzad pressed for details on how
UNAMI is moving to fulfill its mandate and whether de Mistura
had sufficient staff to carry it out. Amb Khalilzad asked
specifically about reports that UNHCR said it could not
assign staff to Iraq because of security-imposed restrictions
on the number of employees. While noting the importance of
security and consultation with Under Secretary-General for
Security Veness, Pascoe and UN staffer Darko Mocibob
dismissed these reports, explaining that UNAMI had sufficient
hard cover to permit more professional staff. They also
maintained that de Mistura is having good success in
attracting UN staff to serve in Iraq. Turning to another
outstanding issue, Mocibob said the UN had sufficient funds
to reimburse the USG for airlift in theater for UNAMI travel
while the UN sought to contract its own air support.


4. (C) Pascoe said that de Mistura reported he had excellent
cooperation with Embassy Baghdad and MNF-I. He said de
Mistura is planning to sequence implementation of the tasks
outlined in UNSC Resolution 1770. Pascoe also confirmed that
SYG Ban is serious about the UN effort in Iraq. "It's a big
issue, it really counts, and he wants us to work on this."

Visiting de Mistura
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5. (C) Following presentations by de Mistura and Amb
Khalilzad to the Security Council January 21, the two met to
discuss de Mistura's first two months in Iraq. Summarizing
many of the issues de Mistura has discussed with Embassy
Baghdad (ref b and previous),the UN envoy explained he is
seeking "positive examples in soft areas," and described his
work on Article 140. On regional engagement, de Mistura
reported that Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari had been sluggish
in working with the UN to set up the ad hoc secretariat. The
envoy opined that "no one is totally serious" about regional
dialogue, and suggested each neighbor wanted its own
bilateral deal. He said he would work to identify areas of

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genuine interest in order to promote engagement, and
identified refugees as a possible area. He reported that he
has dined twice with the Iranian ambassador. De Mistura also
said he had worked with the GOI and Saudi Arabia on the
following arrangement: the GOI will spend the amount of debt
relief granted to Iraq by Saudi Arabi in Sunni Arab majority
areas in Iraq.


6. (C) On national reconciliation, de Mistura said there
could be no movement on constitutional reform until the major
political issues of oil and federalism had been resolved. He
reported that Iraqi NSA Mouffaq al-Rubaie had asked the UN to
provide assistance to the GOI in negotiations with the USG on
issues related to security, diplomacy, and economics. De
Mistura suggested such UN advice to Rubaie "may be a good
idea." On the new UNAMI compound, de Mistura credited a U.S.
Army captain (unnamed),who had identified the Georgian
compound as an alternative site that would be more
cost-effective because it would be co-located in what will be
a diplomatic compound. The UN subsequently advised USUN that
de Mistura had successfully persuaded the Secretariat to put
a hold on the current $200 million proposal while the UN
undertakes an assessment of the viability of the Georgian
compound.


7. (C) On UNHCR staffing, de Mistura confirmed that he had
arranged for High Commissioner Guterres to visit Iraq in
February when Guterres travels to Jordan and Syria. De
Mistura said he had requested that Guterres come with a
"gift" of personnel for UNAMI, stated that he expected that
Guterres would comply, and underscored the urgency of
providing technical advice to the "weak" Ministry of
Displacement and Migration. Generally speaking, de Mistura
praised the Secretariat's support for UNAMI, singling out
Pascoe. He asked Amb Khalilzad, however, to reinforce with
U/SYG for Security Veness the need to ensure the ceiling on
staff does not block the assignment of UN personnel to Iraq
prior to Veness' next trip to Iraq. De Mistura noted that
the UN has a total of 355 employees in Iraq, including
professional and security staff. At the Tamimi compound in
Baghdad, there are 85 professional staff members, and he is
seeking an additional 19 professional staff to be assigned
there. He argued that it was important to "take away the
alibi" that security restrictions limit assignments. He
added that it was important for the Iraqis to see substantive
international staff actively engaged in the country.

Pressing UNHCR New York
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8. (C) USUN met January 29 with Pierre Bertrand the
director of UNHCR's New York office, and UNHCR senior policy
advisor Emmy Takahashi. Bertrand, noting that he and de
Mistura are old friends, reported that UNHCR has already
placed a senior representative in Baghdad and that a second
substantive staffer would be re-locating to Baghdad shortly.
He said UNHCR plans to place up to five professional staff in
Iraq, including in Irbil and Basrah. He said Guterres would
confirm these steps when he visited Iraq in February, when he
is also touring Jordan and Syria.

WOLFF