INL A/S JOHNSON PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR ISF REFORM

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 000184

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS TO INL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020
TAGS: PREF PREL PTER KPAL LE
SUBJECT: INL A/S JOHNSON PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR ISF REFORM

REF: BEIRUT 113

Classified By: Ambassador Michelle Sison for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: INL Assistant Secretary David Johnson assured
MGen Rifi, the head of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces
(ISF),of continued U.S. support to improve the effectiveness
and efficiency of the Lebanese police so they can exercise
their authority in all of Lebanon. Gen. Rifi acknowledged
improvements in this regard but insisted that security
cooperation with the U.S. in fighting terrorists also be a
factor in gauging success of U.S. assistance to the ISF. A/S
Johnson met with UN officials, who raised concerns that the
INL plans to build an ISF police station in the Nahr al-Barid
Palestinian camp remains a risky venture unless Lebanese
government dialogue with the local community addresses
widespread misconceptions and expectations about government
intentions to police Palestinian camps using community
policing techniques. Deputy UN Special Coordinator for
Lebanon Jack Christofides outlined to A/S Johnson a common
donor position on border control that was presented to Prime
Minister Hariri on February 2 (septel). The common donor
position seeks a show of greater urgency on the part of the
Lebanese government in securing its borders -- a key
requirement of UNSCR 1701 -- through the appointment of a
senior level "border czar" to oversee the development of a
comprehensive border plan and its implementation. End
Summary.

ISF IMPROVED BUT STILL NEEDS HELP
--------------


2. (U) The visiting A/S Johnson and the Ambassador
participated in the January 11 graduation of three ISF
training classes -- 286 cadets who graduated from the 12th
and 13th iteration of the Basic Cadet Course and 21
lieutenants who completed an extensive train-the-trainers
course in community policing. Following the graduation
ceremony, A/S Johnson and the Ambassador joined the ISF
Director General, MGen Ashraf Rifi, in reviewing progress in
the INL-funded refurbishment of the ISF Training Academy.
They then participated in a briefing for the ISF general
staff on community policing presented by two newly minted ISF
community policing trainers.


3. (C) At a subsequent meeting, Rifi told A/S Johnson that
while some groups are still opposed to ISF policing (Note: an
apparent reference to Hizballah and the Palestinians. End
note.),the situation is improving. Hizballah is now asking
for ISF assistance in fighting crime in South Beirut, Rifi
said, and cooperated with the ISF in the "100% eradication"
of hashish in the Bekaa Valley. He thanked the USG for its
support to the ISF, citing the extensive INL training and
equipping programs. U.S. assistance is being well spent, he
assured Johnson, and the 480 patrol vehicles on Lebanon's
streets are a visible sign of American support. The recent
emphasis on community policing training, developed primarily
for the Nahr Al-Barid Palestinian refugee camp, has convinced
the ISF of the merits of the approach. Community policing
will be implemented in the entire ISF, Rifi asserted.
Command, control and communications deficiencies remain
critical and the ISF is looking forward to USG assistance in
this realm. Give us more help to fight terrorism, crime, and
narcotics, he continued.


4. (C) A/S Johnson commended the partnership between the ISF
and the USG and assured Rifi of continued U.S. support to
help expand the ISF presence into areas previously closed to
Lebanese security agencies. The ISF is demonstrating this
partnership in sharing some of the cost of the Training
Academy refurbishment, and excellent maintenance of INL
provided equipment. Johnson pledged to help build the
communications system. The Ambassador also highlighted the
importance of the ISF in strategic security cooperation, an
issue of great importance to PM Hariri and President Sleiman.

ISF POLICING IN CAMPS STILL A HIGH RISK VENTURE
-------------- --


5. (C) A/S Johnson and the Ambassador met with Deputy UN
Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jack Christofides and
ambassadors from key donor countries (the UK, EU, Germany and
Denmark) to discuss possible U.S. assistance in securing the
borders of Lebanon. Christofides outlined to A/S Johnson a
common donor position on border control that was presented to
Prime Minister Hariri on February 2 (septel). The common
donor position seeks a show of greater urgency on the part of
the Lebanese government in securing its borders -- a key
requirement of UNSCR 1701 -- through the appointment of a
senior level "border czar" to oversee the development of a
comprehensive border plan and its implementation. Later on
January 11, A/S Johnson and the Ambassador met with Charles
Higgins, the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA)
Project Manager for the Nahr al-Barid camp, which was largely
destroyed by a three-month battle between Palestinian
extremists and the Lebanese security forces in May 2007.
Following those events, the Lebanese government announced its
intention to begin civilian policing inside the Palestinian
camps (something it had not done since 1969) with Nahr
Al-Barid as the pilot project. In 2005, the GOL initiated a
dialogue process with the Palestinians to address the lack of
basic civil rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, who
are generally not permitted to work, own property or operate
businesses.


6. (SBU) The USG has provided over half of the funding to
rebuild Nahr al-Barid, a substantial portion of emergency
humanitarian assistance to the displaced refugees, and INL
has pledged to construct a police station in the camp with
extensive community policing training for the ISF officers
assigned there. Higgins explained that the Palestinians were
wary, suspicious and, in many cases, unwilling to be policed
by the ISF. Rumors about Lebanese government intentions are
rife (e.g., that community policing is geared to turn the
Palestinians into informants or that the UN housing
construction in the camp is for a planned tourist resort and
not for the Palestinians) and divisions within the 17
Palestinian groups within the camp have created a tense
situation. The national dialogue process was viewed as a
failure by many Palestinians in the camp who rejected their
Beirut-based interlocutors with the Lebanese government as
unrepresentative of the community.


7. (C) The November 26, 2009 resignation of Amb. Khalil
Makkawi, Chairman of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue
Committee (LPDC) (accepted by the PM effective January 31,
2010) has left another void in an already deficient process,
explained Higgins. In the meantime, the Lebanese Armed
Forces (LAF) were erecting barricades around the nearby
Baddawi camp where over 10,000 of the refugees displaced from
Nahr al-Barid currently live. The Palestinians, he said,
fear that the LAF intends to implement the tight checkpoints
in Beddawi that currently exist in Nahr al-Barid. These
checkpoints have almost completely stifled commerce within
the camp, where unemployment is over 80%. Tensions are high,
said Higgins, and it would foolish for the U.S. to build the
police station or the ISF to begin policing without prior
extensive outreach and dialogue with the community. If ISF
policing fails in Nahr al-Barid, he noted, it cannot work in
any of the other Palestinian camps. UNDP Chief of Staff Nick
Hartman, also present at the meeting, said that the UNDP has
fully funded the LPDC, and that PM Hariri has asked that the
UN-hired Maya Majzoub, the LPDC head in Sidon, to replace
Makkawi. (Note: Her appointment became effective February

1. End note.) Higgins also asserted that UNRWA intended to
convene another donor conference for the reconstruction of
Nahr al-Barid sometime in mid-year, probably in Beirut.

OTHER MEETINGS
--------------


8. (SBU) A/S Johnson and the Ambassador also met with Nick
Hartman, UNDP Chief of Staff in Lebanon, for an update on a
UNDP regional anti-corruption project to which the INL has
contributed over $2.2 million since 2006. A/S Johnson told
Hartman that the U.S. seeks to have the UNDP move beyond
meetings and would like to see actual anti-corruption
mechanisms developed in the Arab countries. A/S Johnson met
as well with the INL-funded contractors implementing the
Lebanon Police Support Program. He thanked the over 40
assembled U.S. instructors and contractors and over 70
Lebanese staff for their contribution to the success of the
INL Lebanon program.


9. (U) There was extensive media interest in the visit. Five
Lebanese television news programs aired coverage of the ISF
graduation ceremony and A/S Johnson had a media pull-aside
with Murr Television (MTV). He conducted a long interview
with the An-Nahar newspaper which ran on January 14.


10. (U) Assistant Secretary Johnson has cleared this cable.
SISON