10.1 |
Reconstruction: March 2003 to June 2004
569.
The Annotated
Agenda for the 17 July meeting of the AHMGIR stated that the
CPA
had decided
to create Governorate Teams (GT) in each of Iraq’s 18
governorates.312
The
UK was
likely to be asked to provide leaders for four of those
GTs.
570.
The Annotated
Agenda reported that Mr Bearpark recommended
against
concentrating
the UK contribution to GTs in the four southern governorates on
the
grounds
that an all-UK sector might have more difficulty in accessing funds
from
Baghdad.313
A spread of
representation would also give the UK sight of
developments
across
Iraq.
571.
At the
meeting, Ministers were informed that Sir Hilary Synnott, a
former
British
High Commissioner to Pakistan, had been appointed as Head of
CPA(South),
to succeed
Ambassador Olsen.314
572.
Ministers
agreed that the UK should shift emphasis over time from regional
areas
of
operation to governorates and should explore the possibility of
leading two teams in
CPA(South
East) and one each in CPA(South) and CPA(North). Ministers
requested firm
recommendations
for the following week.
573.
The 24 July
meeting of the AHMGIR agreed that the UK would offer to lead
four
GTs, two in
the South East, one in the Kurdish area, and one elsewhere in the
Sunni
area “but
not in the less stable central areas around
Baghdad”.315
574.
By 25 July,
close to 100 UK personnel were seconded to the CPA, 30 of them
in
Basra.
Section 15.1 describes UK staffing for the CPA in more
detail.
575.
Officials had
agreed in June that the UK should contribute to the development
of
the CPA’s
strategy, rather than develop a strategy of its own.
576.
Mr Sawers
reported on 6 July, as part of a general update of developments in
the
CPA, that
the CPA’s strategic plan was at an advanced stage of drafting and
in “pretty
good
shape”.316
UK
officials were feeding in concerns that it needed to be clearer
about the
scope for
economic change, and to give a higher profile to the UN’s
“independent role”.
577.
The IPU
welcomed the news, commenting that it had thought the strategic
plan
was “lost
in the weeds”.317
312 Annotated
Agenda, 17 July 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
313 Annotated
Agenda, 17 July 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation meeting
attaching Paper Iraq
Policy
Unit, 14 July 2003, ‘Ad Hoc Ministerial Meeting: 17 July, (Annex C)
Future Staffing of the CPA’.
314
Minutes, 17
July 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
315
Minutes, 24
July 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
316
Telegram 69
IraqRep Baghdad to FCO London, 6 July 2003, ‘Iraq: CPA
Activity’.
317
Telegram 27
FCO London to IraqRep Baghdad, 7 July 2003, ‘Iraq
Priorities’.
101