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DE RUEHGB #0516/01 0581405
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FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6856
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000516 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/I 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2020 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PREL ASEC KTER IZ
SUBJECT: RRT ERBIL:  EFFORTS TO CONTROL CLASHES IN 
SULAIMANIYAH 
 
REF: A. BAGHDAD 0417 
     ¶B. BAGHDAD 0515 
 
Classified By: RRT Erbil Team Leader Andrew Snow for Reasons 1.4 (b) an 
d (d). 
 
¶1.  (U) This is an Erbil Regional Reconstruction Team (RRT) 
cable. 
 
¶2.  (C) Summary:  Sulaimaniyah's election security committee 
broadcast the decision February 19 to ban all outdoor 
campaign activities in Sulaimaniyah province between the 
hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. through the end of the 
campaign period.  The Ambassador's Senior Advisor to Northern 
Iraq (SANI) expressed concern over the violence to President 
Barzani's Chief of Staff Fuad Hussein and Kurdistan Region 
Minister of the Interior (KMOI) Kareem Sinjari, both from the 
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).  RRT Erbil Team Leader also 
called for restraint on local television.  End summary. 
 
SANI and Team Leader Encourage Restraint 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) On February 17 and 18 SANI and RRT Team Leader met 
with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) senior officials and 
expressed concern over the growing threat of violence 
especially in Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk.   SANI told KMOI that 
the level of friction between the Patriotic Union of 
Kurdistan (PUK) and Goran is alarming, adding that if the 
violence continues it will harm the credibility of the 
election.   SANI and Team Leader also passed a message of 
concern to KRG Vice President and senior PUK leader Kosrat 
Rasoul through his son.  On February 22 KMOI told Team Leader 
that he had met with representatives of all the political 
parties and stressed that all sides avoid violence and adhere 
strictly to IHEC campaign rules.  Sinjari also asked the 
Goran representative to pass a message to Goran leader 
Nawshirwan Mustafa that he make a television appearance and 
call on his supporters to remain calm and not resort to 
violence.  Team Leader suggested President Talabani should do 
the same.  Sinjari said if Nawshirwan does it first, he can 
embarrass Talabani into doing it.  (Note: In a February 23 
meeting with SANI, Goran senior leader, and former 
Sulaimaniyah governor, Dana Ahmed Majeed, said that Mustafa 
had already addressed followers with this message on February 
¶21.  End note.) 
 
¶4.  (C) SANI also warned President Barzani,s Chief of Staff 
Dr. Fuad Hussein that there is concern that there could be a 
serious incident in Kirkuk or Sulaimaniyah in the near future 
if tensions were not tempered.  Hussein agreed that the 
situation was not good, but attributed it mostly to party 
supporters failing to control themselves late at night due to 
a combination of youthful exuberance and too much alcohol. 
He said that he would ask KRG President Barzani to tell 
people not to campaign late at night. In SANI's meeting with 
KMOI, Sinjari said that he had already called for a meeting 
with the election security committee, and was planning to 
meet with them later on February 18.  (Note: The committee, 
which consists of the three provincial governors, IHEC, and 
the chiefs of police, decided to limit campaigning in 
Sulaimaniyah to no later than 9:00 p.m. End Note.)  Sinjari 
also expressed some mistrust of the Goran movement, saying 
that he hoped that Goran would listen. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In a series of interviews with Iraqi Kurdistan 
Region (IKR)-based television stations (both ruling party- 
and opposition-linked), RRT Team Leader has also called on 
all party leaders to urge their followers to exercise 
restraint and avoid violence. 
 
 
PUK Tough Guys Allegedly Driving the Decisions 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶6.  (C) During a meeting February 18 with RRTOff, Kurdistan 
Q6.  (C) During a meeting February 18 with RRTOff, Kurdistan 
Strategic Studies Center director Farid Asasard, who is also 
a member of PUK's 30-member leadership committee, said that 
there is a greater degree of both excitement and tension in 
the public than during the July regional parliamentary 
elections.  Asasard agrees that it is in PUK's interest to 
calm supporters, emotions, but many in the leadership 
believe PUK needs to make a public showing that they are 
tough and will not bend in front of an opponent like Goran. 
According to Asasard, some in the leadership have said, "If 
they throw one stone, we'll throw ten!"  He said the PUK 
leadership is especially sensitive to the need to get enough 
votes to justify another term for Jalal Talabani as Iraqi 
president.  Asasard said that it is especially difficult to 
control both youth, because they are by nature unpredictable, 
 
 
and hired supporters, because they are loyal to their 
benefactors.  PUK needs to make a stronger effort to 
encourage restraint through the media, but it will still be 
difficult to control these two groups, he said. 
 
¶7.  (C) In a meeting with RRTOff February 18, Goran deputy 
head Muhammad Tofiq expressed grave concern for the welfare 
of Goran's supporters.  He said that there had been six 
people hit by gunfire and all had been Goran supporters. 
(Note:  The RRT has only been able to confirm four gunshot 
injuries:  three to Goran supporters on the night of February 
16 and one to a visitor from Khanaqin on the night of 
February 18, who was not a supporter of either party.  End 
note.)  Tofiq said that the Goran representative on the 
election security committee had reported that the PUK 
representative had said in the committee's most recent 
meeting that PUK decisions are being taken far above his 
level, and he was skeptical whether his leadership would 
listen to the counsel of the committee.  Tofiq claimed that 
he tells supporters daily that they need to stay calm and 
exercise restraint.  Tofiq said he had told Talabani years 
ago that the PUK needed to make the transition from an 
underground military movement into an organization in which 
violence and intimidation were left behind.  However Talabani 
always had excuses why it was not the right time to make this 
transformation. 
 
Election Security Committee Actively Engaged 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) In a February 21 discussion with RRTstaff, Zana 
Salih, Sulaimaniyah District Manager and member of the 
election security committee, said that the situation had 
calmed following the decision to ban public campaigning after 
9:00 p.m., but there were indications that PUK had not 
complied with the new mandate.  The committee had informed 
Malband officials of the violations and the need to follow 
IHEC's decision.  Acting provincial governor Bahroz Qashani 
was dispatched to meet with Malband officials, asking that 
they help to maintain order by complying with IHEC's new 
regulations, and they pledged to do so.  Salih said, "I will 
believe it when I see it."  Salih attributes the higher 
number of problems this time, over the July regional election 
campaign, to the insertion of the Asayish in the security 
mix; in July the Asayish were reportedly not involved. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9.  (C) The decision to restrict campaigning through the 
night in Sulaimaniyah is a practical decision to lower the 
political temperature.  It is unclear however, whether all 
sides will respect enforcement of the decision and 
voluntarily cease their activities.  There are initial 
indications that PUK violated the 9:00 deadline in the days 
following its pronouncement.  Even though there are signs 
that Goran restrained its supporters in the first couple of 
days after the new policy came into effect, it appears that 
after seeing PUK supporters not respecting the deadline, 
Goran supporters have also pushed the time envelope.  IHEC 
has levied fines against the parties, but these minor fines 
will not be a strong enough disincentive for them to 
discontinue their unhelpful actions. End Comment. 
HILL