Cablegate: A/S Wayne Discusses Tsunami Relief with French

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 003076

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EB/IFD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PGOV PREL FR EUN
SUBJECT: A/S WAYNE DISCUSSES TSUNAMI RELIEF WITH FRENCH
COORDINATORS

NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION

1. (SBU) SUMMARY. EB Assistant Secretary Wayne briefed
French government tsunami relief coordinators on U.S.
efforts, and shared with them the U.S. approach to
public-private partnerships, as well as innovative
financing loan facilities. Both A/S Wayne and his
French counterpart Jean-Claude Mallet agreed on the
need for better coordinating mechanisms, particularly
with NGOs. The French also shared their frustrations
with the slow pace of relief and reconstruction efforts
on the ground. They warned that the level of
unhappiness with international relief efforts could
undermine the long-term effort. The French said most
of their aid to Sri Lanka would be in concessional
loans (300 million Euros) and about 47 million Euros in
grants for the affected countries. END SUMMARY

2. (U) EB A/S Tony Wayne met May 2 in Paris with Jean-
Claude Mallet, French Interministerial Coordinator for
Tsunami Relief. Mallet was accompanied by his deputy,

SIPDIS
Eric Chevalier, and Philippe Kaspi, a member of the
Coordinator's Office. France's official tsunami relief
coordination is managed out of the Prime Minister's
Office. This meeting is a follow-up to a March 9
tsunami relief conference call which A/S Wayne led and

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in which Mallet participated.

3. (SBU) Mallet admitted to A/S Wayne that while French
contributions to the relief efforts were smaller than
those of the U.S., both countries shared many of the
same frustrations. In terms of raw numbers, French
officials say they had approximately 47 million Euros
in grants, around 22 million Euros for the first phase
of relief, plus around 25 million Euros for
reconstruction. They have about 300 million Euros in
concessional loans available for Sri Lanka, one of his
deputies added. Mallet said that the bulk of French
bilateral aid was directed through NGOs to rapid impact
relief, such as sanitation, educational and
environmental programs, and rebuilding technical
schools. These programs were directed at Sri Lanka and
Aceh, Indonesia.

FRENCH NGOS ARE WELL-FUNDED
---------------------------

4. (SBU) For the mid-term, French efforts would likely
focus on sanitation, social welfare and water supply
projects in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, especially the
eastern coast. In France, Mallet said NGOs received
roughly 255 million Euros, with five to six NGOs
getting the lion's share. The French Red Cross alone
received 100 million Euros. Mallet said his office was
dealing with both how to provide guidance to these well-
funded NGOs, who had received more money than they had
plans for, and also to the very small NGOs who had
received considerably less money, but who had valuable
technical expertise. Mallet noted that the French
government was debating how to approach Trust Funds,
but he was not convinced that France would contribute.
Nonetheless, regarding the Maldives Islands, there was
no choice but to support the Trust Fund. France would
also likely work more closely with the Asian
Development Bank in cofinancing projects in Sri Lanka
(using the 300 million in concessional rate loans).

5. (SBU) The French expressed interest at some of the
innovative financing mechanisms A/S Wayne described.
Wayne noted the upcoming May 12 Asia Society event in
Washington that will focus on public-private
partnering, with the presence of former Presidents
Clinton and Bush. The Fund also expressed interest at
how OPIC planned to work with the U.S. Red Cross to
guarantee small loans to Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises. Chevalier told A/S Wayne that France was
considering a similar scheme.

6. (SBU) Mallet and his colleagues made a point of
telling A/S Wayne that they agreed with former
Secretary Powell's assessment that the tsunami disaster

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is considerably more challenging than other crises. He
said a complicating factor is the impression that many
tsunami victims worry about a new natural catastrophe,

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and continue to be fearful about the future. Mallet,
who comes to tsunami relief from a career at the
Ministries of Defense and Interior, said France was
also concerned about setting up appropriate on-shore
early-warning systems. He said France supported the
UNESCO/IVC approach of reinforcing already existing
capabilities including sensors, to develop a tsunami
warning system for the Indian ocean. French officials
say they are also working with partners such as the
Atomic Energy Commission, its scientific centers,
meteorological organizations and other regional
organizations as well.

HIGH LEVEL OF FRUSTRATION
--------------------------
7. (SBU) Chevalier, who had just returned from a trip
to the region, described a high level of frustration
and even pessimism among all actors involved, NGOs,
civil servants, relief workers and especially victims.
He said he believed there was still so much work left
to do between "immediate" relief and "mid-term"
reconstruction. "We are not making progress", he said,
describing as an example a Japanese government USD 100
million grant to this Indonesian government budget and
none of it had yet been disbursed.

8. (SBU) Chevalier said it was important at this stage
to "avoid adverse feelings", i.e. to avoid inciting
growing anti-international feelings among victims and
NGOs, and even local legislators. He cited a resolution
being discussed in the Sri Lankan Parliament. As Sri
Lanka noted, the frustrations have a sectarian angle,
and that he had seen leaflets being distributed that
accused international donors of "neglecting" Muslims.
Other frustrations included a lack of awareness of the
rules in Sri Lanka. For example, on housing, Chevalier
noted that representatives from NGOs and even UN
agencies could not initiate housing projects when the
rules and requirements were not uniformly understood.

9. (SBU) Mallet expressed his appreciation to A/S Wayne
for his briefing on U.S. efforts. He agreed on the
need to continue to coordinate among major donor
countries, especially regarding NGO projects and
funding.

10. (U) This message was cleared by Assistant Secretary
Wayne.

ROSENBLATT

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