VZCZCXRO1116
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0988/01 0801117
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211117Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0298
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000988 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR PGOV PHUM IZ
SUBJECT: DIYALA PRT: DIYALA PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT TACKLES 
FOOD DISTRIBUTION PROBLEM 
 
This is a Diyala PRT Reporting Cable 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Largely due to the security situation, 
Diyala province has not received its Public Distribution 
System (PDS) food shipment from the Ministry of Trade (MoT) 
since September 2006.  This has been a major contributor to 
the public perception that the provincial (and national) 
government is failing the people; however, there are not 
reports of Iraqi citizens suffering from food shortages.. 
The Diyala provincial government, with the support of the PRT 
and BCT, has worked 
out a tentative solution to this problem with the MoT in 
Baghdad.  The local PDS distribution agents from each Qada 
(district) in Diyala will be able to go directly to a MoT 
warehouse outside of the province.  The Embassy is working 
with the PRT to confirm that MoT has indeed agreed to, and is 
moving to implement such a plan. In Diyala PRT/BCT will work 
to confirm that agents and trucks (and possible IA convoys) 
are available, and that there is some management system in 
place in the province to monitor the success of this 
endeavor.  Diyala PRT will report promptly on implementation. 
 END 
SUMMARY 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Provincial Government Solves a Problem (maybe) 
--------------------------------------------- - 
¶2.  (SBU) While the province is not on the brink of 
starvation nor facing a threat of food riots, the five 
month delay in PDS shipments is causing hardship for the 
people, and is 
a significant contributor to the public perception that the 
provincial (and national) governments are failures.  The 
provincial government, PRT and BCT have undertaken 
significant efforts to correct this situation.  In a recent 
meeting organized by the Prime Minister in Baghdad the 
Assistant Governor for Administrative Affairs Hafith 
al-Jubouri (Sunni, Iraqi Islamic Party), who has been 
tasked with resolving this issue, worked out a deal to 
allow each of Diyala,s five Qadas (districts) to get PDS 
supplies directly from warehouses in other provinces, 
rather than using the central Baqubah warehouse.  The 
Baqubah warehouse has been problematic because the roads 
between Baghdad and Baqubah, and from Baqubah to the other 
parts of Diyala have been too dangerous for drivers to 
transport the foodstuffs. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The PDS food items for the Qadas should all be 
distributed to Ministry of Trade (MoT), which runs PDS, 
warehouses in Baghdad (Khalis Qada), Wassit (Balad Ruz 
Qada), or Kirkuk (Khanaqin, Baqubah, and Muqdadiyah 
Qadas).  MoT is supposed to send official notices to the 
warehouses allowing the distribution agents from those 
Qadas to go directly to the MoT warehouse and pick up 
shipments.  Baghdad will also be transferring the 
appropriate records to those warehouses so that the agents 
who come will be tracked.  Moreover, the MoT and the PM's 
office also informed the Assistant Governor that Diyala,s 
grain shipments would be changed so that already processed 
flour would be put in with the other items in the food 
basket, as opposed to the complicated procedure of shipping 
grain into the province, processing it, and then 
distributing it.  If this solution works out as planned, 
then the Qadas should begin getting their food shipments in 
the next few weeks. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) There is also a reported plan to get some of the 
goods for 
the shipments intended for Diyala for SEP-DEC 2006.  This 
effort is being organized by the Diyala Director General 
for PDS distribution and an independent actor who can 
coordinate trucking the shipments to Baqubah since some of 
the goods from the PDS basket intended for Diyala are still 
in warehouses in Baghdad.  As MoT/Diyala have already set 
aside funds for these shipments, it becomes a matter of 
acquiring a MoT contract with a new trucking firm to ship 
the goods to Baqubah.  COMMENT: This is a new aspect to the 
plan which was just added to the realignment worked out in 
Baghdad.  END COMMENT. 
 
--------------------------- 
Moving Forward, USG Support 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The next step is to confirm that this account, 
which comes from the Diyala Assistant Governor, is indeed a 
plan agreed upon by all parties.  PRT requests that Baghdad 
with MoT that shares this  understanding of the plan as well. 
 PRT/BCT will report promptly on the results in Diyala. 
 
---------------------------------- 
 
BAGHDAD 00000988  002 OF 002 
 
 
Comment: A Possible Success Story 
---------------------------------- 
¶6.  (SBU) COMMENT: While it is still to early to tell 
whether this plan will succeed, if it does, it will be a 
fine example of the Diyala provincial government tackling a 
major problem for the province, and coordinating a 
relatively complex solution, a capacity that it has often 
failed to demonstrate of late.  If the 
provincial government was able to negotiate this plan with 
a Baghdad government, it would certainly be a step forward, 
given that the central government is often seen as removed 
from the 
province and its problems. 
KHALILZAD