HARD-LINE POSITIONS FURTHER JEOPARDIZE UNCC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000570 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/I BAGHDAD FOR POL AMMAN FOR ESTH E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2019 TAGS: PREL PINR PGOV KU IZ SUBJECT: HARD-LINE POSITIONS FURTHER JEOPARDIZE UNCC PAYMENTS AND IRAQ-KUWAIT ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION REF: KUWAIT 562 Classified By: EconCouns Oliver B. John for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Iraqi, Jordanian and Kuwaiti environmental officials spent five days in talks in Kuwait from May 31 to June 4. The meetings -- convened under the auspices of the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) -- focused on regional efforts to bolster Iraq's capacity to identify and plan for environmental remediation programs associated with damage arising from the 1990-91 Gulf War. The discussions were overshadowed by heated rhetoric between Iraqi and Kuwaiti legislators June 1-3 and, behind the scenes, by increasingly hard-line posturing by the two Governments on the subject of the USD 25.5 billion owed to Kuwait by Iraq under the UNCC process. On the sidelines of the meetings, the Iraqi Deputy Environment Minister told econoff he was cautiously optimistic about the prospects for ongoing technical cooperation between Iraq and Kuwait though he indicated that increasingly divergent viewpoints by the GOI and GOK on resolving these outstanding liabilities could scupper even working-level cooperation of this nature. End Summary. KUWAIT SUPPORT FOR IRAQI CAPACITY BUILDING -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Emboffs attended sessions of the eighth meeting of the UNCC-sponsored Regional Environmental Remediation Advisory Group (RERAG) on June 3 and 4, the first time that representatives of UNCC Governing Council member states were invited to RERAG deliberations. Officials from the National Focal Points (NFP) of Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait attended the meetings in Kuwait, which included three days of technical discussions from May 31 to June 2. Iraq's delegation comprised officials from that state's newly established NFP, headed by the GOI's Deputy Minister for the Environment, Dr. Kamal Latif. (According to Kuwaiti NFP officials, representatives from Iran did not attend due to visa problems caused by "miscommunication" and Saudi Arabia's representatives were absent due to "urgent" meetings). The Geneva-based executive director of the UNCC Secretariat, Dr. Mojtaba Kazazi, also attended the meetings. ¶3. (SBU) On May 31 and June 1-2, the three nations' NFP representatives discussed proposals to develop a RERAG capacity building program for 2009-10 and plans to develop, and raise funds for, the Iraqi Environment and Health Assessment Surveys (IEHAS). According to presentations delivered June 3, the May 31-June 2 discussions were largely focused on regional cooperation with respect to helping Iraq to undertake a series of surveys that would form the basis for future environmental remediation programs, most of which would be centered around environmental damage caused by the 1990-91 Gulf War. Representatives from Kuwait's NFP -- which has pledged USD 10 million "seed" funding to help Iraq develop capacity to undertake such surveys -- presented proposals for capacity building workshops in 2009-10 and for raising funds from international donors for IEHAS. However, Dr. Sabikah Al-Abdul-Razzak, the Deputy Director of Kuwait's UN Liaison Office in Geneva, noted that such proposals are tentative and subject to further discussion. She emphasized the GOK's keen desire to pursue regional cooperation in the environmental field, noting -- as did other attendees -- that environmental damage transcends national borders. ¶4. (SBU) Dr. Kazazi of the UNCC secretariat said that discussions were underway among UNCC Governing Council members regarding the future of the Compensation Commission. Noting that the UNCC was close to completing its mandated work, he said that proposals for monitoring current and future projects associated with UNCC payments included: prolonging the UNCC's mandate; dissolving the UNCC and handing over responsibility to another UN entity, e.g., the UN Environment Program (UNEP) or the UN Development Program (UNDP); dissolving the UNCC and handing over responsibility to an international entity such as the World Bank or the Geneva-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN); or dissolving the UNCC and creating a stand-alone monitoring and evaluation entity. HEATED RHETORIC AND "ANGER" IN THE TWO CAPITALS -------------- -- ¶5. (C) On the sidelines of the meetings June 3, the GOI KUWAIT 00000570 002 OF 002 Deputy Environment Minister voiced cautious optimism to econoff about the prospects for ongoing Iraqi-Kuwaiti cooperation in this area. However, he mentioned that campaigning for next year's elections in Iraq would result in unhelpful populist rhetoric pertaining to GOI-GOK relations, similar to remarks made by MPs in Baghdad in recent days. (Note: Iraqi MPs' assertions that Kuwait owed Iraq damages relating to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and that borders between the two nations needed to be renegotiated caused an uproar in Kuwait June 2-3, including heated statements from Kuwaiti MPs (ref A). End Note). Dr. Latif also indicated that failure by the two Governments to resolve the issue of the outstanding USD 25.5 billion in UNCC awards owed by Iraq to Kuwait could undermine or scupper the technical cooperation currently underway between the two nations in the environmental arena. Separately, Dr. Al-Abdul-Razzak told econoff that she was under attack by colleagues in the GOK who criticized Kuwait's support to Iraq's fledgling environmental institutions; she spoke of the considerable "anger" felt by Kuwaitis on account of recent utterances by Iraqi politicians. ¶6. (C) A British diplomat -- who recently attended meetings in Baghdad with senior GOI officials including Vice President Al-Hashemi, Foreign Minister Zebari, Parliament Speaker Al-Samarraei and Prime Minister Al-Maliki's chief of staff -- told econoff that all the aforementioned officials spoke of Al-Maliki's increasingly hard-line position on the approximately USD 25.5 billion in UNCC awards owed by the GOI to the GOK. According to the diplomat, her interlocutors said that Al-Maliki and other political leaders in Iraq are increasingly concerned about the Iraqi people's opposition to such payments, not least given Iraq's growing budgetary woes caused by relatively low oil prices. She noted that the GOI is stiffening its opposition to the modality whereby five percent of all Iraqi oil revenues go towards UNCC payments. She also pointed out that reducing this percentage payout would result in the UNCC payments lasting many decades. COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) It is difficult to assess under the current cloud of harsh rhetoric where this process is heading. We understand that the GOI's opening negotiating line during a preliminary GOI-GOK-UNCC meeting in Amman May 20 was that Kuwait should forgive the USD 24 billion in unpaid UNCC awards (the GOI signaled its intention to pay the outstanding USD 1.5 billion in environmental awards). For its part, the GOK has expressed an openness to reducing the percentage of overall Iraqi oil revenues directed to UNCC awards payments but such flexibility, Post believes, would only follow an authoritative GOI affirmation (and acceptance) of permanent boundaries as demarcated in UNSCR 833. End Comment. ********************************************* ********* For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: visit Kuwait's Classified Website at: http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Kuwa it ********************************************* ********* JONES