VZCZCXRO1111
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHMOS #0050/01 1391630
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 191630Z MAY 06
FM REO MOSUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0481
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEHLU/AMEMBASSY LUANDA 0071
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0054
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0058
RUEHMOS/REO MOSUL 0500

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSUL 000050 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  5/19/2016 
TAGS: PREL PINS PINT PGOV PHUM IZ MARR
SUBJECT: NINEWA VIEWS ON CENTRAL GOVERNMENT FORMATION AND SECURITY 
 
MOSUL 00000050  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Jerome P. Hohman, IPAO, Provincial Reconstruction 
Team Ninewa, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (a), (b), (d) 
 
 
 
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SUMMARY AND COMMENT 
------------------- 
 
¶1.  (C) Reaction by Ninewa's political representatives and 
government officials towards the formation of a new central 
government in Baghdad is best described as cautiously 
optimistic.  While there is some finger pointing as to why the 
process has taken so long (over six months) with no agreement, 
the general consensus is a desire for economic and political 
security, and providing of basic services, such as water and 
electricity.  Areas of greatest concern -- such as adequate 
minority representation and the equitable distribution of 
ministerial posts -- remain locked in ethnic strife, with the 
Kurds and Shia being accused by Sunni Arabs and minorities of 
not doing enough to resolve the problem.  Varying ethnic groups 
and political parties in Ninewa claim the events in Baghdad and 
the lack of a central government negatively impacts the security 
situation in the province.  End Summary and Comment. 
 
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VIEWS ON GOVERNMENT FORMATION IN BAGHDAD 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) Political party and government representatives from 
Ninewa remain cautiously optimistic that a solution would be 
found for the current impasse over the central government 
formation in Baghdad.  Depending on party affiliation or 
ethnicity, views as to how ministerial positions have been 
settled varied greatly.  Major political coalitions, especially 
the Kurds and Shia, believed that the process so far had been 
fair and equitable.  Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) provincial 
spokesman Mehdi Herki and Aref Yousef of Supreme Council for 
Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SCIRI) believed differences between 
political entities and ethnicities have been overstated.  Yousef 
said although Iraqis were not accustomed to living without a 
government for so long, there were no indications that problems 
between the Kurds, Shia, and Sunni were too serious.  He said 
Iraqis have shared a long history of reconciling and working 
together for the common good.  Patriotic Union of Kurdistan 
(PUK) national assemblymember Abdelbari al-Zebari, who has spent 
the past three weeks participating in negotiations in Baghdad, 
remained optimistic that problems over the new government 
formation would be solved on time by May 22. 
 
¶3.  (C) National assemblymember from Al Hewar (National 
Dialogue) coalition Mahmoud al-Azzawi believed the process has 
not been fair.  He said it was dangerous to offer both the 
presidency and the foreign affairs ministry to the Kurds, for 
example, because it would give too much power to one group.  He 
claimed if the current situation were not solved soon it would 
cause problems for the future of the country.  Al-Azzawi said 
there were still some obstacles in the way to forming the new 
government, namely the lack of compromise over the posts of 
defense and the interior.  Ministerial posts had not been 
distributed among qualified candidates, he claimed, but rather 
on a sectarian basis.  Adeep al-Chalabi of the Iraqi Islamic 
Party (IIP) claimed politicians in Baghdad were only focusing on 
their own self-interests and not the nation as a whole. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
ADEQUATE REPRESENTATION OF MINORITIES UNCERTAIN 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶4.  (C) Given Ninewa's large minority population, politicians 
and government officials from all ethnicities in the province 
had differing opinions about minority representation in the new 
government.  Shabek Democratic Assembly (SDA) national 
assemblymember Dr. Haneen al-Qado (who is a member of United 
Iraqi Alliance) agreed that ministerial posts had been fairly 
addressed.  However, more could be done to ensure minority 
groups outside the major coalitions had more representation, he 
said.  Al-Zebari of PUK said there were plenty of minorities 
that joined with larger coalitions and now were candidates for 
ministry positions, such as the Yezidi, Turkoman, and Shabek. 
Therefore, any grumbling by smaller parties that the process was 
not fair or democratic was unfounded, he said.  Provincial 
council and Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) member Gevara Zia 
and Saed Rasho of the Yezidi Movement for Progress and Reform 
(YMPR) adamantly disagreed with al-Zebari's assessment.  Zia 
claimed Christians and other minorities, as well as Sunni Arab 
 
MOSUL 00000050  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
coalitions, were not invited to take part in the formation of 
the new government.  He accused the Kurdish and Shia coalitions 
of bargaining behind the scenes.  Rasho claimed the lack of 
representation was depriving minorities a voice in the new 
government. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
SECURITY IN NINEWA AFFECTED BY EVENTS IN BAGHDAD 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶5.  (C) Political and ethnic groups in Ninewa unanimously 
claimed that the lack of a central government was having a 
negative impact on the security situation in the province. 
Yousef of SCIRI believed Mosul was connected to Baghdad 
intrinsically, since Ninewa was one of Iraq's most populous 
provinces.  Mosul was receiving the brunt of tensions from the 
impasse over the new government formation, he said, but this was 
a temporary problem that would be solved soon by the presence of 
a permanent government.  Overwhelmingly, Sunnis, Shia, Kurds, 
and minority groups called for disbanding militia groups as the 
first step by any new government in Iraq.  Henri Sarkis Alyas of 
the Assyrian Patriotic Party, Yousef of SCIRI, and Rasho of YMPR 
said militias should be disbanded and its personnel merged with 
Iraqi security forces.  Al-Chalabi of IIP, al-Qado and SDA, and 
Zia of ADM said security forces should be comprised of residents 
from villages and towns they were assigned to protect. 
Al-Chalabi even called for the incorporation of former Baathist 
military who did not have "blood on their hands" into the 
security forces.  Yousef said more work would need to be done to 
enforce the rule of law and to purge the government -- at all 
levels -- of corruption.  Once the government was formed, the 
security situation would be solved, and the government could 
begin its job of providing basic services, such as electricity 
and water, to the people of Iraq, said al-Zebari. 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶6.  (C) While no specific group will ever be happy with the 
outcome in Baghdad, differing political party contacts in Ninewa 
anticipate that some sort of solution would come about from 
negotiations in Baghdad.  They see problems in Baghdad 
contributing to violence and unrest in the province, as well as 
affecting resident's ability to receive basic services.  While 
adequate representation of minorities in the new government 
remains a concern for many in Ninewa, the message from our 
contacts is very clear: the hope that a permanent central 
government can help create security and stability in Iraq. 
GRANT