U.S.-SUPPORTED DEMINING EFFORTS IN IRAQ FACE FORK

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001920 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/I/POLMIL, NEA/I DEPT ALSO FOR PM/WRA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2019 TAGS: KHDP PARM PGOV PREL IZ SUBJECT: U.S.-SUPPORTED DEMINING EFFORTS IN IRAQ FACE FORK IN THE ROAD REF: BAGHDAD 1816 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: A/PMA W. S. Reid for reason 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: The Ministry of Defense (MOD) will block the Iraqi Mine Clearance Organization (IMCO) from doing demining in Iraq, according to Deputy Minister of Environment Dr. Kamal Latif, who also heads the Directorate for Mine Action. IMCO is a NGO that the Department's Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA) Office initiated and subsequently sustained with grants creating indigenous, private Iraqi capacity to mitigate the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). While widely praised by the UNAMI, Dr. Kamal, and other demining experts in Iraq, IMCO and its Executive Director, Zahim Mutar, drew the ire and suspicion of MOD Senior Advisor GEN Mohan and other MOD officials (reftel). The recently signed agreement between Ministry of Environment (MOEnv) and MOD gives MOD power to veto specific projects, which it has preemptively exercised by providing official notice that it will reject any IMCO project. Embassy's Political Military Affairs Section and PM/WRA have already begun discussions about how to: 1) address contracts with IMCO; 2) transfer assets and funds to other NGOs in Iraq; or 3) otherwise recoup and redeploy our humanitarian investments. End summary. ¶2. (C) Dr. Kamal asked to meet with Emboff July 13 following an earlier conversation he had the same day with GEN Mohan and MOD Senior Legal Advisor Dr. Ghaleb. Dr. Kamal explained that he had hoped to soften the MOD officials' position against IMCO and then invite them to meet with Embassy officials to discuss a new way forward. Dr. Kamal said that he was surprised by GEN Mohan's intransigence and his claims that IMCO was guilty of corruption and undermining internal security. GEN Mohan for the first time accused Mutar of being a closet Ba'athist. Emboff commented to Dr. Kamal that not only were GEN Mohan's claims unsupported, they were increasingly outlandish, which Dr. Kamal acknowledged with dismay and resignation. FIRST UPSIDE: IMCO OUT OF LEGAL JEOPARDY -------------- ¶3. (C) Mutar called Emboff July 12 to report that his lawyer told him July 11 that MOD-sponsored criminal charges against him had been dismissed. Mutar supplied a translation of the court decision July 15 that states IMCO's actions in destroying small arms and light weapons, under Mutar's leadership and with MNF-I's involvement, did not violate Iraqi law. He thanked the Embassy profusely for tracking the issue and raising awareness about it. This resolution means that Mutar currently does not live with the threat of imprisonment and that the GOI will not dissolve IMCO and seize its assets. (Comment: The dismissal represents some encouraging news for Embassy projects because, if GOI were to expropriate resources that WRA had supplied for humanitarian purposes, it would have caused considerable bilateral consternation. Second, Executive Director Mutar now has the option of retiring or stepping down from an organization which he has inadvertently mired in controversy, if he so chooses. In any case, the Embassy will not have any self-imposed obligation to bail him out of trouble. End comment.) SECOND UPSIDE: NEW OPPORTUNITIES -------------- ¶4. (SBU) IMCO is slated to receive USD 3.1 million in 2009 for ERW abatement in Iraq and USD 3.4 million to build a new Qfor ERW abatement in Iraq and USD 3.4 million to build a new compound. These obligations will need to be reconsidered quickly in light of IMCO's inability to engage in operations other than training. Per July 14 conversation with PM/WRA official, one option other than defunding the project is to transfer financial support (as well as physical assets) to MAG (Mine Assistance Group) or other NGOs that GEN Mohan has not indicated he plans to prevent from operating in Iraq, especially those in the KRG where the MOD cannot block operations. (Comment: Because we received this definitive word that IMCO cannot operate before FY 2009 monies have been obligated, we have the opportunity now to decide how to shift resources and deepen investment elsewhere, rather than pursue a losing cause. End comment.) HILL