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Cablegate: Uae Red Crescent Contributions to Iraq Total More

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Diana T Fritz 03/21/2007 05:40:01 PM From DB/Inbox: Search Results

Cable
Text:


UNCLASSIFIED

SIPDIS
TELEGRAM June 15, 2003


To: No Action Addressee

Action: Unknown

From: AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI (ABU DHABI 2877 - UNKNOWN)

TAGS: EAID, PREL, PGOV, PHUM

Captions: None

Subject: UAE RED CRESCENT CONTRIBUTIONS TO IRAQ TOTAL MORE THAN
USD $18 MILLION TO DATE

Ref: None
_________________________________________________________________
UNCLAS ABU DHABI 02877

SIPDIS
CXABU:
ACTION: POL
INFO: ECON RSO AMB DCM P/M

DISSEMINATION: POL
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: A/DCM: TWILLIAMS
DRAFTED: ECON:CCRUMPLER
CLEARED: NONE

VZCZCADI795
OO RUEHC RUCNRAQ RUEKJCS RUMICEA RUEKJCS RUEHDI
DE RUEHAD #2877/01 1661253
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151253Z JUN 03
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0439
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUMICEA/USCINCCENT INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHDI/AMCONSUL DUBAI PRIORITY 3196

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 002877

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/RA, NEA/NGA, PRM/ANE, AND IO/UNP
KUWAIT FOR HOC AND ORHA

E.O. 12958: DECL N/A
TAGS: EAID PREL PGOV PHUM IZ TC
SUBJECT: UAE RED CRESCENT CONTRIBUTIONS TO IRAQ TOTAL MORE
THAN USD $18 MILLION TO DATE

REF: ABU DHABI 2303 AND PREVIOUS

1. (U) Summary and comment. UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA)
Secretary General Sana'a Al-Kitbi forwarded to Econoff 6/15 a

SIPDIS
retrospective on the RCA's work in Iraq from the present
until shortly before the war began. The RCA has contributed more
than USD $18 million in humanitarian supplies and services to the
people of Iraq since November 2002, and continues to answer the
Humanitarian Operations Center's appeals for emergency assistance.
The RCA is forging ahead with is major hospital refurbishment
program in Iraq, and has agreed to accept more Iraqi children for
medical treatment in the UAE. We expect the final price tag for
RCA humanitarian assistance programs in Iraq to far exceed the
USD $18 million already spent.
End summary and comment.

Phase I: Pre-War Stockpiling, $826,000
--------------------------------------

2. (U) A few months prior to the war in Iraq, and in response to
appeals from the ICRC and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, the
UAE RCA sent four delegations between November 2002 and April
2003 to help build emergency stockpiles of food and medical
supplies in Iraq. The RCA delegations purchased these products
from the local economy, and either warehoused the goods or
distributed them to hospitals and villages through existing United
Nations distribution networks. The value of this
pre-war mission totaled about USD $826,000.

Phase II: Emergency Humanitarian Aid, $5.5 Million
--------------------------------------------- -----

3. (U) During and directly after the war, the RCA shipped
more than 1700 tons of medical equipment and supplies, food
parcels, dates, tents, emergency vehicles and four water tankers
to Iraq in two separate shipments to Umm Qasr. The RCA
dispatched by road from Kuwait, Jordan, and Turkey 55 trucks of
approximately 1100 tons of basic foodstuffs, shoes and clothing,
mattresses, pillows, and blankets to Iraq. The UAEG also donated
three heavy trucks to aid other NGOs in Iraq with the
distribution of their assistance. More than 250 tons of dates
were sent to Iraq by air from the UAE once military aircraft were
permitted to land in Basrah and Baghdad.

4. (U) The RCA also contributed thousands of dollars to
rebuilding the infrastructure in southern Iraq. The RCA built
a water treatment plant with 200,000-gallon capacity in Basrah,
and has begun construction of three other water treatment plants
with 25,000-gallon capacity in the surrounding areas.
The RCA also donated a generator for the Saba Nissan water station
on the Tigris river that provides clean water to
approximately 1.5 million people. The RCA likewise
identified and refurbished an office in Iraq from which ICRC staff
could operate, and donated to the ICRC a refrigerated truck for
use in its medical logistic operations in Iraq.

5. (U) In the UAE, the RCA provided emergency food and shelter to
hundreds of Iraqis who were stranded in Dubai at the onset of
the war in Iraq. The stranded Iraqis remained in Dubai until the
beginning of June, at which time the RCA paid for
the Iraqis to return to Iraq overland via Jordan. This second
phase of humanitarian assistance in Iraq cost the RCA more than
USD $5.5 million.

Phase III: Air Bridge, $1.6 Million And Counting
--------------------------------------------- ---
6. (U) As reported reftel, the RCA began an "air bridge" of
humanitarian flights to Baghdad, Basrah, and Mosul on 4/27
to support Iraqi hospitals and dispatch about 255
tons of medicines, medical items, children's nutrients and
other necessities. As of 6/3, the RCA had sponsored 17 such
flights at a cost of more than USD $1.6 million.
Post receives notification from the RAMCC that these RCA flights
to Iraq continue on an almost daily basis.

Phase IV: Hospital Renovation, $10.8 Million
--------------------------------------------

7. (U) In May, the RCA began the complete renovation and
refurbishment of six hospitals in Iraq. A UAE medical team headed
this effort, and remains in Iraq to manage the administration of the
Shaykh Zayid Hospital in Baghdad -- which the RCA rehabilitated in
April. The RCA's hospital rehabilitation program has
cost nearly USD $10.8 million to date.

Phase V: Treatment Of Wounded Iraqis...Priceless
--------------------------------------------- ---

8. (U) The RCA has not yet estimated the total cost of
evacuating in May nearly 40 wounded children and their parents
to the UAE for medical treatment. The Humanitarian Operations
Center (HOC) in Kuwait asked the RCA to arrange for and
cover all costs associated with the special medical evacuation
flights -- the first of which was a presidential Amiri flight --
accommodations and food for the parents while in the UAE, all
related medical treatment and rehabilitation, and a return
trip home once the patients have recovered. Requests from the HOC
continue, and the UAE may accept up to 25 additional patients
identified by the HOC as requiring medical treatment available
in the UAE.

9. (U) The RCA also is seeking more advanced medical treatment
in the United States for one of the Iraqi patients, and is
likely to cover the child's hospital costs and travel expenses.
While at this point the total cost for medical treatment for these
Iraqi patients is unknown, we estimate it is in the range of
several million dollars.

Wahba

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