VZCZCXYZ0003
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGB #3035/01 3220728
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 180728Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO IRAQ COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003035 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2019 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PMIL IZ
SUBJECT: PRT NINEWA:  A RISE IN ARAB-KURD RHETORIC 
 
BAGHDAD 00003035  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Acting Ninewa PRT Leader Mark Schapiro for Reasons 1.4 ( 
B) and (D) 
 
 ¶1. This is a Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) 
cable. 
 
¶2.  (U) Summary.  A recent increase in public rhetoric and 
posturing between al-Hadba Gathering (AHG) and Kurdistan 
Democratic Party (KDP) officials in Ninewa Province has 
raised political tensions to a level not seen since the April 
2009 KDP-backed Ninewa Fraternity List (NFL) walkout of the 
Ninewa Provincial Council (PC).  Exacerbated by the defection 
of an NFL member back to the PC, and the recently released 
Human Rights Watch report which criticized KDP actions in 
KRG-controlled areas of Ninewa, neither side of the debate 
appears ready to temper their public statements anytime soon. 
 While a rise in rhetoric is to be expected in an election 
year, it more likely reflects a heightening of tensions and 
quite possibly provides fertile ground for continued 
terrorist attacks.  End Summary. 
 
Mr. Pesso,s Defection 
-------------------- 
¶3.  (C) In late October 2009, NFL-aligned PC member Hajji 
Hassan Pesso, a self-described Yezidi-Kurd from Sinjar 
District, announced his break with the NFL and his return to 
full participation in the PC.  Celebrated by AHG members, PC 
Vice-Chairman Dildar Zebari publicly praised Pesso and 
encouraged other NFL members to follow suit.  Within a week, 
however, Pesso reported that he and his family had received 
threats from men working for the KDP-aligned Sinjar mayor who 
sent the men on orders from the Sinjar KDP Chairman.  Pesso 
told us that while traveling home on November 4 from Mosul to 
Qahtaniya, Sinjar, with an Iraqi Police (IP) escort, Iraqi 
Army (IA) soldiers stopped him at a checkpoint outside of Tal 
Afar.  Pesso said they warned him that he would be in danger 
from the Peshmerga if he traveled further.  At the same 
checkpoint, the IP unit escorting him refused to continue. 
Zebari, along with Ninewa Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, raised 
the issue with U.S. civilian and military officials, 
requesting a U.S. military escort for Pesso.  Nujaifi and 
Zebari took to the airwaves, publicly condemning the denial 
of safe passage and the threats to Pesso by the Sinjar mayor 
and KDP Chief.  (Note: PRT and USF have both explained to 
Nujaifi and Zebari that Pesso,s freedom of movement must be 
guaranteed by Iraqi Security Forces, and USF have made this 
point in meetings with KRG officials.  End note.) 
 
The KDP Raises the Stakes 
------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) Separately, in the first tangible action since the 
start of the boycott to demonstrate &two Ninewas,8 Ninewa 
KDP Chief Keshro Goran recently began to speak to U.S. 
officials and NGOs of opening an office in the town of 
Bashiqa that he alternates between describing as a &shadow 
provincial council8 and a &government services office,8 
designed to &coordinate8 essential services for those parts 
of Ninewa under KDP control.  While inflammatory enough, the 
choice of location is even more provocative, as Bashiqa (in 
Mosul district) is the town where Governor Nujaifi was denied 
passage by Peshmerga forces when traveling to a balloon 
festival in May 2009. 
 
Zebari Strikes( Goran Counters 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (U) In the meantime, Zebari took to the airwaves on 
November 8 to announce that unless boycotting NFL members 
returned to the PC, the PC would start procedures to remove 
them under Article 6 of the Provincial Powers Law.  While 
within the power of the PC, Zebari made the announcement 
prior to consulting the other members of the PC.  One member 
told us that Zebari lacked the votes to actually remove the 
members.  In meeting with the PRT, PC Chair Jaber Muhammad 
Qmembers.  In meeting with the PRT, PC Chair Jaber Muhammad 
Abdullah said that although the PC had taken the first steps 
to remove the NFL members, he did not think it would come to 
a final vote for at least two more months.  He also said that 
he expected three or four members of the NFL to follow Pesso 
back to the PC.  In response to the PC,s actions, Goran 
announced through the press that the NFL would ask the Iraqi 
Council of Representatives to dissolve the Ninewa PC. 
 
Governor Nujaifi Fuels the Fire 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Following his announcements admonishing Sinjar,s 
mayor and the KDP Chief for threatening Pesso, Governor 
Nujaifi publicly called upon the PC on November 11 to remove 
the legal protection of Sinjar,s mayor and called on him to 
present himself to the PC.  Nujaifi stated that if the mayor 
failed to present himself, he was authorized to remove the 
mayor from his position.  At the same news conference, 
Nujaifi announced that the &violations8 against minorities 
 
BAGHDAD 00003035  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
reported in the Human Rights Watch report took place in 
regions of Ninewa under the protection of Kurdish Security 
Forces (KSF).  Accordingly, the Governor called upon Baghdad 
to deploy its forces throughout the province to remove the 
KSF, enforce the rule of law, and protect all the citizens of 
the province. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7.  (C) Although a rise in rhetoric may represent election 
year politics as usual, the growing political drama suggests 
that the possibility of political reconciliation is growing 
increasingly unlikely without considerable external pressure. 
 The rhetoric also lends credence to the notion that 
Ninewa,s Arab-Kurd divide is actually a political AHG-KDP 
divide, not an organic manifestation of ethnic divisions. 
Regardless, with U.S. and Iraqi Army reporting suggesting 
that terrorists may refocus their efforts on Ninewa during 
the election season, such worsening rhetoric only serves to 
embolden those who continue to exploit the political divide 
in Ninewa. 
HILL