VZCZCXRO2041
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0481/01 0510502
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200502Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5800
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 000481 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AIDAC 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM PREF PGOV UN IZ
SUBJECT:  IRAQ: UN LAUNCHES 2008 HUMANITARIAN APPEAL 
 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  On 12 February, the United Nations 
(UN) launched a humanitarian 
appeal for Iraq in Baghdad and requested 
$265 million for humanitarian activities for 
vulnerable Iraqis.  The UN faces challenges related to 
its security stance to increasing its presence in 
Iraq, but may modify them soon.  The Government of 
Iraq (GOI) has create a new committee under the Prime 
Minister to facilitate humanitarian activities and 
pledged an additional $40 million to the effort.  The 
launch reflects an effort by the UN to raise the 
profile of the humanitarian situation and demonstrate 
its will to work with the GoI.  Whether it will 
succeed depends on its ability to transfer operations 
from Jordan and raise the necessary funds.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
Appeal Launched in Baghdad 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) On 12 February, OFDA Rep attended the Baghdad 
launch of the UN Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) 
document for Iraq.  The CAP was launched by the 
Special Representative of the UN Secretary General 
(SRSG) Steffan De Mistura, Humanitarian Coordinator 
David Shearer, Minister of Displacement and Migrants 
(MODM) Dr. Ali Sultan and Dr. Ali Al-Dabbagh from the 
Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).  Also at the 
thinly attended event were western diplomats, 
government officials, journalists and UN staff. 
 
¶3.  (U) The CAP requests $265 million for 65 
individual projects to be implemented by 10 Non- 
Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and 14 UN agencies 
in nine sectoral areas (food, housing/shelter, health 
and nutrition, protection/human rights/rule of law, 
water and sanitation, unspecified, education, 
coordination and agriculture/food security).  These 
projects will be on behalf of about 2.2 million 
internally displaced people (IDPs) nationwide, and be 
implemented within 12 months. 
 
¶4.  (U) The Appeal document provides a snapshot of 
humanitarian conditions in Iraq, and lays out a 
strategy for the humanitarian community to address the 
most urgent needs.  The four strategic priorities are 
to:  1) relieve immediate suffering by ensuring access 
to essential services; 2) provide protection to 
vulnerable civilians against human rights violations; 
3) improved capacity, coverage and coordination of 
humanitarian activities; and 4) strengthen linkage 
between immediate action and sustainable recovery. 
 
¶5.  (U) Mr. Shearer said in his remarks that the CAP 
represents the operationalizing of UN SC Resolution 
1770, which calls for an increased UN response in 
Iraq.  He explained that the UN will rely on NGOs to 
implement since they are able to operate effectively 
in spite of continuing difficulty moving around due to 
security threats.  He emphasized that the Appeal is 
meant to fill humanitarian gaps and provide for rapid action, 
not achieve a comprehensive solution, which will 
require GoI action. 
 
¶6.  (U) Participants at the launch stressed the 
importance of working with and under the leadership of 
the GoI.  Several noted that given the scale of the 
problem and the resources potentially available to it, 
as well as the history of state provision of services 
in Iraq, it is only logical that the GoI take a strong 
lead. 
 
Money-back Guarantee 
-------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) An unusual promise was made by SRSG De Mistura 
to the GoI at the meeting:  if the UN received funds 
and had not disbursed them within 20 months, the UN 
would either return the funds to the donors or provide 
them to the GoI for disbursal.  (Whether individual UN 
agencies will accept this conditionality remains to be 
seen, but the promise was well-received by the GoI and 
donor representatives present). 
 
Minister of Migration 
--------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) MODM Minister Sultan said that Iraq continues 
to suffer from the economic misdeeds of past regimes 
and current siege by terrorists.  Iraq is now a donor, 
not just a recipient, having provided $100 million to 
 
BAGHDAD 00000481  002 OF 003 
 
 
deal with internal displacement, therefore what Iraq 
needs is help with mechanisms, not just resources. 
The minister called on donors to help to ensure GoI 
efforts are robust and implemented under a well 
understood, unified UN/MODM strategic framework. 
 
¶9.  (U) The Minister also took the occasion to 
announce the creation of a new council of ministers 
committee on humanitarian activities under the 
chairmanship of Dr. Al-Dabbagh, whose role would be to 
facilitate the work of humanitarian organizations in 
Iraq and ensure government unity and support for those 
efforts, led by the MODM.  This committee would also 
determine how to allocate funds to help the IDPs. 
 
Government of Iraq Pledges $40 million for IDPs 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶10.  (U) Dr. Al-Dabbagh announced that the GoI would 
release $40 million in funds left over from a pre-war 
UN World Food Program fund to "the humanitarian 
effort" (without specifying if the funds would go to 
the CAP, although the SRSG gave the impression to the 
audience that it would).  He said this amount was in 
addition to the $25 million already provided by the 
GoI and that it represented a "preliminary sum".  He 
also told the group that the Jordanian Government had 
dropped plans to charge fees to Iraqis who have 
overstayed their visas in Jordan.  Finally, he 
declared 2008 the year of "provision of services and 
infrastructure" to affected Iraqis. 
 
¶11.  (U) SRSG De Mistura said the GoI contribution 
would support the humanitarian effort in four key 
ways:  1) it would be a sign of the GoI's intent to 
participate in the material side of the response; 2) 
it would send a signal to Iraqis that the GoI is 
serious about this problem; 3) it would put into use 
humanitarian funds long frozen; and 4) it will 
increase national pride through Iraq being a donor and 
not simply a recipient. 
 
UN Staff Limits 
--------------- 
 
¶12.  (U) If the UN is going to achieve the goals of 
the CAP, it will need to increase the number of 
civilian professional staff based in Iraq and relax 
security restrictions where feasible to allow them to 
work.  Currently UN staff members are prevented from 
leaving their bases in Baghdad's International Zone or 
Erbil except under strict escort conditions, and are 
unable to plan and implement projects based on first- 
hand field assessments. 
 
¶13.  (U) A senior UN official told OFDA rep that the 
chief of UN's Department of Security (who was recently 
in Iraq) will probably recommend an increase in the 
number of UN staffers allowed in Baghdad from 85 to 
140, in Erbil from 36 to 50 and a ceiling in Basra of 
seven.  He also said the chief would be looking at 
ways to improve UN "mobility" in Iraq, but not yet 
review the UN's security phase, which remains at phase 
four (emergency operations only) nationwide.  (A 
lowering of the phase would facilitate staff travel 
outside guarded bases.  A nuanced approach has been 
called for given the variety of security conditions in 
Iraq.) 
 
Comments 
-------- 
 
¶14.  (U) The Iraq CAP was an afterthought (UN annual 
appeals are usually launched in December) and reflects 
the new humanitarian leadership being provided in Iraq 
by HC Shearer.  The decision to make a humanitarian 
appeal was made in part to raise funds, but also to 
raise awareness of the humanitarian issues in Iraq, 
assert UN leadership in addressing them, bring the GoI 
into the process more formally and show donors that 
the UN is serious about re-engaging with Iraq from 
inside Iraq. 
 
¶15.  (U) The launch takes place in a context of 
cautious optimism that the displacement phenomenon may 
well have peaked and cautious returns begun.  Speakers 
stressed, however, that there is a long way to go in 
terms of addressing the underlying causes of 
displacement (insecurity, sectarian tension) and 
durable solutions (reconciliation, economic 
rehabilitation). 
 
BAGHDAD 00000481  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶16.  (U) It is not clear what is going to happen with 
the $40 million pledged by the GoI towards 
humanitarian activities.  Some concern was privately 
expressed by UN officials present that the money, 
outside the national budget could easily disappear. 
 
¶17.  (U) To achieve the goals of the CAP, given the 
multiplicity of actors and interests, complexity of 
the situation and large scale of the problem, 
effective coordination will be required.  One of the 
pre-requisites for this will be to end the bi-polar 
system in use between Baghdad and Amman, preferably by 
favoring Iraq-based coordination.  Another will be the 
establishing of a robust presence of the UN Office for 
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Iraq. 
 
Conclusion 
---------- 
 
¶18.  (U) While the production and release of this 
appeal in Baghdad is a hopeful sign that the UN will 
be increasing its engagement with Iraq, security 
concerns and the UN's continued reticence to take a 
nuanced view of them will continue to make 
humanitarian work in the country very difficult for UN 
implementing agencies.  Whether the UN will be able to 
become a player will depend on its ability to overcome 
both the security issues and the comfort of its staff 
in Jordan, and to get a decent response from donors 
for the humanitarian Appeal. 
 
 
CROCKER