RRT ERBIL: KRG: LAST DIVIDED MINISTRIES MERGE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000980

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: RRT ERBIL: KRG: LAST DIVIDED MINISTRIES MERGE

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Classified By: Regional Coordinator Lucy Tamlyn for Reasons 1.4 (b).

This is an Erbil Regional Reconstruction Team (RRT) cable.


1. (C) Summary. On April 6, the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament
voted to approve the merger of the ministries of Finance,
Interior and Peshmerga affairs, heretofore separated into KDP
and PUK ministries, and to swear in the new Deputy Prime
Minister, Emad Ahmad Sayfor (PUK). The merger completes a
process that was first announced on January 21, 2006, when
the KDP and the PUK published an agreement to form a unified
Kurdistan Regional Government. While the Peshmerga will have
a unified command structure, individual military units will
remain organized along provincial lines for the foreseeable
future. The Internal SECURITY and Domestic Intelligence
organizations, moreover, have still not been merged, and
their merger remains problematic. Finance Minister Sarkis
was not present to be sworn in with the other Ministers,
raising questions as to the status of the merged Finance
Ministries and to Sarkis' whereabouts. End Summary.

Finally!
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2. (U) On April 6, the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament (IKP,
formerly the Kurdistan NATIONAL Assembly) voted to approve
the merger of the Ministries of Finance, Interior and
Peshmerga Affairs. Before this latest vote, the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK) had each maintained their own separate ministries in
these areas. The merger completes a process first announced
on January 21, 2006, when the KDP and the PUK published an
agreement to form a unified Kurdistan Regional Government.
The new PUK Deputy Prime Minister Emad Ahmad Sayfor, former
Minister of Housing and Reconstruction, was also sworn in
(replacing former Deputy PM Omer Fattah). Although a
sprinkling of legislators did not raise their hands to vote
aye, there were no dissenting votes. In a speech delivered
to the IKP during this special session, KRG Prime Minister
Nechirvan Barzani stated that this action demonstrated the
unity of the Iraqi Kurdish people and the cooperation shown
by the governing parties.


3. (SBU) The ministers of the unified ministries are:
Minister of Finance, Sarkis Aghijan Mamendu (KDP); Minister
of the Interior, Karim Sinjari (KDP); and Minister of
Peshmerga Affairs, Sheikh Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa (Sheikh
Jaafar Qaradaghy)(PUK). Both the Minister of the Interior
and the Minister of Peshmerga Affairs were sworn in on the
day of the vote. The Minister of Finance is still out of the
country, officially "for health reasons," and could not be
sworn in. KRG officials informed RRT Team Leader that the
process would be completed when Minister Sarkis returned
("maybe in a month") to be sworn in, adding that since the
acting Minister for the last seven months has been PUK, the
merger is de facto, if not de jure. (Note. Sarkis was last
seen in a February 2009 photo with KRG leaders and the Pope.
End Note) Still under discussion is the renaming of the
Ministry of Pershmerga Affairs. The Peshmerga forces may
take on the name of Kurdistan Regional Guard, but there is a
great reluctance to drop the name Peshmerga, and a final
decision has not yet been announced.

Political, Not Operational Considerations, Held Up the Merger
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4. (C) Our contacts in all three ministries had assured us
over the last several months that the technical details of
the merger had been worked out, and that all that was lacking
Qthe merger had been worked out, and that all that was lacking
was the political will to make the final decision. The
then-Minister of PUK Peshmerga Affairs, Sheikh Jaafar, told
us that the main hold-up lay with the central government in
Baghdad, which needed to determine how many Peshmerga would
be transferred to the regional government forces and how they
would be paid from the GoI,s Budget. (Comment: we believe
that this still is unresolved. End comment) As for Finance,
the former Deputy PUK Finance Minister, Dilshad Osman
Fathullah, informed us that all the technical problems had
been resolved by October 2008, and there was already a high
degree of coordination between the PUK and the KDP Ministries
of Finance. Dilshad described the operation as one ministry
with two ministers, each of whom reported to the COUNCIL of
Ministers in Erbil. (Comment: In fact, Finance Minister
Sarkis has been out of the country since October. In his
absence, PUK Finance Minister Bayeez Talabani, has been
acting minister (assisted by - or possibly sharing power with
- the long-time KDP Deputy Minister Rasheed). End comment)


5. (C) The merger of the two interior ministries was more
complicated. This ministry was originally slated to go to
the PUK, but the PUK Minister of the Interior, Othman Haji

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Mahmood, confided to us in January that President Jalal
Talabani didn't trust him and that he would probably be
passed over. Othman, along with four reformist PUK Politburo
members, tendered his resignation shortly thereafter. Since
it appeared that the PUK did not have a suitable replacement
for him, the position passed to the KDP's Minister of State
for the Interior, Karim Sinjari.

Peshmerga Forces Remain Organized along Provincial Lines
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6. (C) While the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs will have a
unified command at the top, for the foreseeable future, units
further down the military chain of command will continue to
operate much as they have since the creation of the PUK and
its Peshmerga forces in 1975. New recruits will have common
uniforms and training. However, the Peshmerga forces will
continue to be structured, at least for now, along provincial
lines, according to Mohammad Said Qadir, formerly Deputy
Commander of PUK Peshmerga Forces. General Qadir told us
that the small size of the Peshmerga forces is not conducive
to creating division-level forces that would span the entire
region. Other contacts have been more frank: according to
the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Dr. Nouri Sinjari, the
Peshmerga would "start fighting each other" if full
integration took place now.

PUK and KDP Retain Separate SECURITY and Intelligence Outfits
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7. (C) The internal SECURITY (Asayish) and the domestic
intelligence (KDP Parastin and PUK Zanyeri) organizations
have still not been merged. Hewa Jaff, Director of Foreign
Affairs for the Sulaimaniyah Governorate, explained that the
Asayish will be very difficult to unify because each side has
spied on the other, each has maintained paid informants, and
each has files and intelligence on the other. Unification
would require them to unveil everything, including who killed
and kidnapped whom, and who has disappeared. Both parties
just have too many secrets they need to protect, Jaff stated.
By comparison, he continued, unifying the Peshmerga was a
much easier proposition. Even though the military leaders
are loyal to their own political parties and the KDP and PUK
fought each other in the civil war of the mid-1990s, both
sides have fought shoulder-to-shoulder for decades against a
common enemy.

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


8. (C) Comment: Reports of imminent unification have been a
familiar part of the Kurdistan rumor mill for the last two
years and there is a sense of relief that it has finally come
to pass. Unification is an important milestone for the two
parties and adds another level of confidence to a
relationship that less than a decade ago had degenerated into
outright civil war. That being said, there are still
questions as to what "unification" means at this point. So
long as Peshmerga forces are structured according to province
and not across the entire region, party loyalties will likely
remain strong. Concerning Finance, we expect continuing
respect for the "gentleman's agreement" on dividing up
revenues between PUK and KDP. We do not expect Sarkis to
take up an active role as Minister even if he does return.
It is worth noting that his prolonged absence, coupled with
the bland assurances by authorities that he is regaining his
health outside the country, has created a wild mix of rumors.
Sarkis is variously reported to be dead, to be in hiding
Q Sarkis is variously reported to be dead, to be in hiding
abroad, to be under house arrest in Erbil, to be under
investigation for poor accounting of the millions that he was
authorized to spend for the Christian community and, finally,
as the keeper of the secrets of KDP finances, too powerful to
let go. We do know, at least, that he is alive, as evidenced
by his participation in President Barzani's visit to the Pope
last month. The continued tenure of Minister of the Interior
Karim Sinjari is good news for the USG. Sinjari is well
respected, is considered to be the de facto "third in line"
in the KDP power structure (after the President and the Prime
Minister,) and has been extremely forthcoming and cooperative
with USG civilian and military authorities.
BUTENIS