VZCZCXRO7086
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHDO #0284/01 1000623
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 090623Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7810
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1359
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0224

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000284 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL QA SY
SUBJECT: QATARI ORGANIZATION ASSISTING IRAQI REFUGEES IN 
SYRIA 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Ambassador James Foley, Senior Coordinator 
for Iraqi Refugee Issues, met with the Director of Reach Out 
to Asia (ROTA), Omnia Nour, March 27 in Doha.  As part of his 
tour of the region, Ambassador Foley intended to request 
ROTA's support for UN appeals for assistance to Iraqi 
refugees, primarily in Syria and Jordan.  Nour surprisingly 
said that ROTA has already had success in assisting Iraqi 
refugees in Syria, particularly through education, and 
expects to expand its program in the future.  ROTA credited 
its Chairperson's personal relationship with the wife of 
Syrian President Asad as crucial to ROTA's success in Syria. 
Foley also met with Salman Sheikh, Sheikha Mozah's Director 
for Policy and Research, to discuss possible Qatari 
assistance for Iraqi refugees.  Sheikh thought Sheikha Mozah 
might be interested in providing assistance in the area of 
education, but acknowledged the difficulty of working this 
issue since Qatar had no coordinated policy on foreign aid. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) ROTA, a charitable organization financed by the 
Government of Qatar, is currently working in Syria for the 
education of children of Iraqi refugees.  ROTA, through its 
connections with the governments of Qatar and Syria, reports 
that it has been successful in overcoming hurdles experienced 
by other international organizations.  ROTA expects its 
education program to reach one million students through three 
pilot locations and virtual classrooms during the inaugural 
school year beginning September 2008 and expects to expend at 
least USD 50 million over five years, after which the 
organization expects the project to be continued locally. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Nour noted that, regarding Iraqi refugees, the 
organization has been concentrating on those that had settled 
in Syria, primarily because of the "good political situation" 
between the two countries.  Initially, when ROTA inquired 
about working in Syria, the Syrian Arab Republic Government 
(SARG) requested USD 14 million that would be used to rebuild 
20 Syrian schools.  Upon closer inspection, however, ROTA 
officials noted that the USD 14 million would be used to fund 
an existing five-year education plan that did not include the 
education of Iraqi refugees. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Instead, ROTA embarked on a plan to use community 
centers as schools and to expand the coverage of those 
schools by using virtual classrooms, with the intent to reach 
as many as one million students.  An integral part of the 
plan was to hire both Syrian and Iraqi teachers, since Iraqi 
teachers could not be hired by Syrian schools and because the 
Iraqi parents would feel more compelled to send their 
children to schools with Iraqi teachers.  Nour told 
Ambassador Foley this was also meant to circumvent the 
current practice, whereby parents would receive assistance 
from UNHCR when their children were enrolled in school, but 
then would disenroll them and have them work for the family 
once the aid was received.  As additional incentives to keep 
the Iraqi students in school, the organization plans to 
support Iraqi families with take-home food rations and will 
also include Iraqis in a project to help Syrian small 
business owners and farmers market their products.  ROTA 
reached an agreement with the SARG in January for the 
project, after more than six months of negotiation. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Nour told Ambassador Foley that UNHCR did not 
welcome the organization's presence in Syria at first. In 
order to show their capability to UNHCR, ROTA started its 
operation in Syria by successfully assisting 25 Palestinian 
refugee students from Iraq needing health care.  These 
efforts were also assisted by the warm bilateral relations 
between Qatar and Syria, as well as "the personal 
relationship between ROTA's Chairperson (Sheikha Mayassa bint 
Hamad Al-Thani - the daughter of the Amir) and the First Lady 
of Syria (Asma Akhras Al-Asad)." 
 
¶6. (SBU) According to Nour, the school project will start 
with three pilot community centers outside of Damascus, near 
concentrations of Iraqi refugees.  The project is planned to 
begin by September to coincide with the beginning of the 
school year. Including the use of virtual classrooms, the 
pilot schools are expected to reach one million students, 
both Iraqi and Syrian.  The project will be jointly funded by 
the SARG and ROTA and is expected to cost at least USD 10 
million per year over five years.  After five years, the 
project is expected to be taken over by local partners. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Ambassador Foley remarked that ROTA had perhaps a 
better grassroots feel for the challenges in Syria than the 
international organizations, to which Nour responded, "UNHCR 
has no capacity for education."  In reply to Ambassador 
Foley's question about what the U.S. could do to assist ROTA, 
 
DOHA 00000284  002 OF 002 
 
 
Nour said ROTA wanted to become involved inside Iraq and 
asked for points of contact.  ROTA views the UNHCR assessment 
of needs inside of Iraq as critical to any repatriation plan 
and wants to participate.  Nour also encouraged continued 
U.S. engagement on behalf of Iraqi refugees and displaced 
persons:  "Keep in touch, cooperate, work together for the 
people regardless of your image.  It would change your image." 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment:  ROTA desires to remain engaged with the 
USG on this issue and wants to be part of the repatriation 
solution.  Good political and personal relationships with the 
SARG could make ROTA successful in areas in which the USG 
and/or UNHCR have less leverage.  Embassy Doha will remain in 
close contact with ROTA and Embassy Damascus to keep apprised 
of their progress in Syria and to assess opportunities for 
cooperation with ROTA.  Meanwhile, Sheikha Mozah's office, 
which operates separately from both ROTA and the Qatari 
Foreign Ministry, may take an interest in this issue.  Their 
staff is stretched thin, however, are likely to defer to ROTA 
if that organization is already involved in this area. 
 
¶9. (U) Ambassador Foley has cleared this cable. 
RATNEY