GERMAN MFA SUPPORTS PACE MISSION BUT FEARS TIME IS

UNCLAS BERLIN 000154 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PREL COE FR XG GM SUBJECT: GERMAN MFA SUPPORTS PACE MISSION BUT FEARS TIME IS RUNNING SHORT REF: STATE 7158 ¶1. (U) On January 29, poloffs delivered reftel demarche to MFA office director for Iraq, Klemens Semtner. Semtner said that the MFA had engaged with German PACE representatives in support of the UNAMI invitation for an observer mission. However, his office had not yet received any feedback. Semtner was downbeat on prospects for support given the lack of a PACE footprint in Iraq and the fact that the EU, which does have an office in country, had failed to put together an official mission -- opting, instead for an experts delegation. Moreover, he feared that it might already be too late for PACE to act given that the election was just over a month away. Nevertheless, he welcomed U.S. efforts. For his part, Semtner noted that the MFA will have one election observer on the ground in Baghdad and a handful in the north of Iraq -- possibly on detail from Berlin. He also told poloffs that the German-based Ebert Foundation ran a program that trained nearly 14,000 Iraqi election observers. ¶2. (U) On February 2 poloff delivered reftel points to Alexander Troche, Deputy Head for Protocol for the President of the German Bundestag Norbert Lammert. Troche had no immediate response but promised to flag this issue for Lammert immediately. Murphy