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RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2849

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 000681 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM FR IZ JO SY LE
SUBJECT: SENIOR COORDINATOR FOR IRAQI REFUGEES FOLEY MEETS 
FRENCH MFA OFFICIALS, 31 MARCH 2008 
 
REF: STATE 30028 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary:  French MFA officials told Senior 
Coordinator for Iraqi Refugees James Foley on March 31 that 
France expects to receive perhaps 500 Iraqi refugees this 
year via UNHCR referrals in Jordan and Syria as well as 
processed directly by the French embassy in Baghdad. 
Defining criteria for these and other refugees remains 
problematic, however, as the French seek to balance 
pressure from French religious groups to favor Christian 
Iraqis with an ingrained tendency to apply an approach 
focusing on those at greatest risk, who have existing ties 
to France, or who would most easily integrate once 
resettled.  Although FM Kouchner intends to raise the 
refugee issue at the April 22 Iraq neighbors meeting in 
Kuwait, the response from this group of MFA officials was 
tepid to the idea of increasing bilateral assistance to 
refugees in the region and skeptical in terms of increased 
EU assistance in the near term.  End summary 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Senior Coordinator for Iraqi Refugees James 
Foley met with French MFA officials March 31 to discuss 
French policy for dealing with Iraqi refugees and to 
request French help in terms of increased bilateral and EU 
assistance for Iraqi refugees in the region.  French FM 
Kouchner's adviser for crisis and humanitarian situations 
Eric Chevallier was unable to attend at the last minute. 
Kouchner's adviser on NEA affairs Christophe Bigot led the 
meeting on the French side accompanied by deputy director 
of the IO bureau equivalent Marc Giacomini and Iraq desk 
officer Olivier Masseret.  PolMinCouns and poloff joined 
Foley on the U.S. side. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Bigot started by saying that France expected to 
receive perhaps 500 Iraqi refugees this year, including 100 
from Jordan and Syria that France has already accepted 
based on UNHCR referrals and 400 others drawn from refugee 
populations in Jordan and Syria as well as Iraqis processed 
by their embassy in Baghdad.  (Comment:  The MFA, when 
later pressed for a more precise breakdown, including 
whether Christians would be favored, declined to do so. 
End comment)  He explained the difficulty France has faced 
in defining criteria for accepting refugees, noting that 
the GOF has tended to favor refugees likely to integrate 
well into French society, i.e., due to their language 
ability, the likelihood they would find gainful employment, 
and family ties.  Giacomini added that the GOF and UNHCR 
had disagreed about the applicability of the 1951 
convention on refugees to many who had fled to Jordan and 
Syria, with the net result that France had agreed so far 
only to receive about 100.  Masseret said that the French 
embassy in Baghdad, because of personnel and 
security-related constraints, was focusing exclusively on 
those cases in which the applicants were "especially 
threatened," had ties to France, and a demonstrated French 
language ability.  He suggested that the eventual opening 
of the embassy office in Irbil could facilitate increased 
processing in-country. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Bigot underscored continuing French concerns 
about singling out certain categories over others.  This 
inevitably raised the "problematic" of the Chaldean 
Christians.  He said the GOF has heard arguments that the 
Chaldean community was "more or less" vulnerable but found 
these claims hard to evaluate definitively, even in the 
wake of the kidnapping and murder earlier this year of the 
Chaldean archbishop of Mosul.  Bigot referred to pressure 
on the GOF by Christian groups in France to help the 
Chaldeans and other Christian communities in the Middle 
East. 
 
 
PARIS 00000681  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Foley provided an overview of USG efforts 
vis-a-vis resettlement in the U.S. as well as helping the 
UNHCR and other international agencies/NGOs in the field 
cope with the sizable refugee populations in neighboring 
countries.  He contrasted the infrastructure in place to 
receive refugees in Jordan and Syria with Lebanon, where 
until recently Iraqi refugees were faced with the choice of 
repatriation or imprisonment.  When Giacomini asked about 
International Organization for Migration efforts to help 
resettle returning refugees in "safe zones" inside Iraq, 
Foley answered that the USG supports IOM and UNHCR efforts 
on behalf of returnees but is not currently encouraging 
refugees to return given the uncertainty of the security 
situation.  Foley reviewed U.S. refugee resettlement 
efforts, noting that we had already admitted nearly 3000 of 
the 12,000 authorized for FY 2008.  This follows 1600 
admitted in 2007.  He also recounted the history of our 
refugee processing efforts in Syria, which have been 
hampered by the difficult state of U.S./Syrian relations. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Turning to the rationale for his latest trip to 
the Middle East and Europe, Foley explained that he was 
encouraging donor countries to respond to the estimated USD 
900 million needed this year to deal with the Iraqi refugee 
situation (per reftel, which embassy had already passed to 
the MFA).  UNHCR alone privately estimates it will need 
nearly double the amount of its USD 261 million regional 
appeal for Iraqi refugees.  Foley spoke of a worsening 
humanitarian situation, especially in Syria and Jordan, and 
the unusual aspects of this refugee crisis, which involved 
a middle class population living not in camps but in urban 
areas.  This makes it harder to count, track, and care for 
the refugees.  Many are inexorably becoming impoverished as 
they exhaust savings and because of limitations on their 
ability to work in the host countries.  Foley underscored 
the potential risk of instability to the hosting countries 
and to Iraq should the refugees be forced to return home. 
In Syria alone, the UNHCR expects a doubling of daily food 
assistance from 150,000 to 300,000 persons. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Convincing the Gulf states to increase or even 
offer assistance has been a challenge, Foley continued. 
Many of those governments opposed the 2003 war or have 
strained relations with the current Iraqi government.  They 
believe the GOI should be able to do more itself with its 
oil revenues.  We hope that the increasing urgency of the 
situation may motivate at least some of the wealthy Arab 
states to contribute despite their misgivings about the 
Maliki government.  Foley noted our concern as well about 
the EU response, which may in part be due to inaccurate 
information about the refugee situation.  The EU 
contributed 66 million euros last year, and we hope that 
will be increased.  In that context, we would welcome 
French support for increased EU assistance in addition to 
any further bilateral assistance it could contribute. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  When Bigot asked whether we wanted to see the EU 
maintain its current level, Foley rejoined that we frankly 
hoped to see the EU increase substantially its current 
level of aid.  Giacomini argued there was little current 
fiscal room for maneuver in terms of French bilateral 
assistance (currently one million euros for Iraqi refugees 
via UNHCR).  He pointed to other pressing needs at the 
moment like Chad.  Giacomini and Bigot said France would 
consult with RELEX and ECHO, but there were budget problems 
across the board in Europe among EU member states that will 
make any increase problematic. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  Foley expressed appreciation for France's help 
and engagement on this issue, underscoring its importance 
to the Secretary.  He repeated concerns about how the 
 
PARIS 00000681  003 OF 003 
 
 
refugee situation potentially threatened regional stability 
as well as security conditions inside Jordan and Syria. 
This had terrorism and other potential implications.  The 
USG would welcome France using its weight in Brussels to 
obtain more financial assistance.  Foley also suggested 
that assistance to refugees was a natural area where the 
GOF could realize its desire to contribute on Iraq matters. 
Bigot concluded that Kouchner is very aware of the 
situation and is likely to raise it at the upcoming Iraq 
neighbors conference in Kuwait. 
 
¶10.  (U)  Ambassador Foley cleared this cable. 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
 
STAPLETON