PRT NINEWA: A RISE IN ARAB-KURD RHETORIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003036

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PMIL IZ
SUBJECT: PRT NINEWA: A RISE IN ARAB-KURD RHETORIC

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Classified By: Acting Ninewa PRT Leader Mark Schapiro for Reasons 1.4 (
B) and (D)


1. This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT)
cable.


2. (U) Summary. A recent increase in public rhetoric and
posturing between al-Hadba Gathering (AHG) and Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) officials in Ninewa Province has
raised political tensions to a level not seen since the April
2009 KDP-backed Ninewa Fraternity List (NFL) walkout of the
Ninewa Provincial Council (PC). Exacerbated by the defection
of an NFL member back to the PC, and the recently released
Human Rights Watch report which criticized KDP actions in
KRG-controlled areas of Ninewa, neither side of the debate
appears ready to temper their public statements anytime soon.
While a rise in rhetoric is to be expected in an election
year, it more likely reflects a heightening of tensions and
quite possibly provides fertile ground for continued
terrorist attacks. End Summary.

Mr. Pesso,s Defection
--------------

3. (C) In late October 2009, NFL-aligned PC member Hajji
Hassan Pesso, a self-described Yezidi-Kurd from Sinjar
District, announced his break with the NFL and his return to
full participation in the PC. Celebrated by AHG members, PC
Vice-Chairman Dildar Zebari publicly praised Pesso and
encouraged other NFL members to follow suit. Within a week,
however, Pesso reported that he and his family had received
threats from men working for the KDP-aligned Sinjar mayor who
sent the men on orders from the Sinjar KDP Chairman. Pesso
told us that while traveling home on November 4 from Mosul to
Qahtaniya, Sinjar, with an Iraqi Police (IP) escort, Iraqi
Army (IA) soldiers stopped him at a checkpoint outside of Tal
Afar. Pesso said they warned him that he would be in danger
from the Peshmerga if he traveled further. At the same
checkpoint, the IP unit escorting him refused to continue.
Zebari, along with Ninewa Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, raised
the issue with U.S. civilian and military officials,
requesting a U.S. military escort for Pesso. Nujaifi and
Zebari took to the airwaves, publicly condemning the denial
of safe passage and the threats to Pesso by the Sinjar mayor
and KDP Chief. (Note: PRT and USF have both explained to
Nujaifi and Zebari that Pesso,s freedom of movement must be
guaranteed by Iraqi Security Forces, and USF have made this
point in meetings with KRG officials. End note.)

The KDP Raises the Stakes
--------------


4. (C) Separately, in the first tangible action since the
start of the boycott to demonstrate &two Ninewas,8 Ninewa
KDP Chief Keshro Goran recently began to speak to U.S.
officials and NGOs of opening an office in the town of
Bashiqa that he alternates between describing as a &shadow
provincial council8 and a &government services office,8
designed to &coordinate8 essential services for those parts
of Ninewa under KDP control. While inflammatory enough, the
choice of location is even more provocative, as Bashiqa (in
Mosul district) is the town where Governor Nujaifi was denied
passage by Peshmerga forces when traveling to a balloon
festival in May 2009.

Zebari Strikes( Goran Counters
--------------


5. (U) In the meantime, Zebari took to the airwaves on
November 8 to announce that unless boycotting NFL members
returned to the PC, the PC would start procedures to remove
them under Article 6 of the Provincial Powers Law. While
within the power of the PC, Zebari made the announcement
prior to consulting the other members of the PC. One member
told us that Zebari lacked the votes to actually remove the
members. In meeting with the PRT, PC Chair Jaber Muhammad
Qmembers. In meeting with the PRT, PC Chair Jaber Muhammad
Abdullah said that although the PC had taken the first steps
to remove the NFL members, he did not think it would come to
a final vote for at least two more months. He also said that
he expected three or four members of the NFL to follow Pesso
back to the PC. In response to the PC,s actions, Goran
announced through the press that the NFL would ask the Iraqi
Council of Representatives to dissolve the Ninewa PC.

Governor Nujaifi Fuels the Fire
--------------


6. (U) Following his announcements admonishing Sinjar,s
mayor and the KDP Chief for threatening Pesso, Governor
Nujaifi publicly called upon the PC on November 11 to remove
the legal protection of Sinjar,s mayor and called on him to
present himself to the PC. Nujaifi stated that if the mayor
failed to present himself, he was authorized to remove the
mayor from his position. At the same news conference,
Nujaifi announced that the &violations8 against minorities

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reported in the Human Rights Watch report took place in
regions of Ninewa under the protection of Kurdish Security
Forces (KSF). Accordingly, the Governor called upon Baghdad
to deploy its forces throughout the province to remove the
KSF, enforce the rule of law, and protect all the citizens of
the province.

Comment
--------------


7. (C) Although a rise in rhetoric may represent election
year politics as usual, the growing political drama suggests
that the possibility of political reconciliation is growing
increasingly unlikely without considerable external pressure.
The rhetoric also lends credence to the notion that
Ninewa,s Arab-Kurd divide is actually a political AHG-KDP
divide, not an organic manifestation of ethnic divisions.
Regardless, with U.S. and Iraqi Army reporting suggesting
that terrorists may refocus their efforts on Ninewa during
the election season, such worsening rhetoric only serves to
embolden those who continue to exploit the political divide
in Ninewa.
HILL