10.1 |
Reconstruction: March 2003 to June 2004
910.
Before the
AHMGIR meeting, Mr Drummond advised Mr Benn that
discussion at
ISOG had
focused on concerns about benefits for communities outside the
“Shia South”
and
cautiousness about DFID’s intention to publish the
I-CAP.524
MOD
officials had
endorsed
the draft I-CAP “but for the wrong reasons”.
911.
Mr Drummond
suggested that at the AHMGIR meeting, Mr Benn should
highlight
the need
for DFID to focus its effort:
“We have
listened and as a result of consultation are willing to engage in
oil sector
governance
to help ensure transparency in the use of oil revenues. But we will
lose
effectiveness
if we spread ourselves too thinly. Our poverty agenda directs us to
the
South.
Other communities can benefit through [the UN and World Bank Trust
Funds]
… and the
political and NGO funds.”
912.
Mr Hoon’s
briefing for the AHMGIR meeting recommended that he should
endorse
DFID’s
draft I-CAP.525
Because of
DFID’s focus on poverty reduction, the draft I-CAP
was heavily
directed towards the South: “This is welcome in terms of the
additional force
protection
benefits for UK military, although they [DFID] may not thank us for
pointing
this
out.”
913.
The draft
I-CAP defined the UK’s “development goal” as “an inclusive, Iraqi
led
reconstruction
process that brings sustained benefits to all citizens,
particularly the poor
and
vulnerable”.526
It set out
three “strategic objectives”:
•
to promote
rapid, sustainable and equitable economic growth;
•
to
encourage effective and accountable governance; and
•
to promote
social and political cohesion and stability.
914.
To achieve
those objectives, DFID would work at three levels:
•
internationally,
to improve the effectiveness of aid, including by
disbursing
a
“significant amount” through the UN and World Bank Trust Funds
and
encouraging
others to do the same, and by helping multilateral
organisations,
including
the IMF and World Bank, to engage;
•
nationally,
to support policies and reforms which benefited the poor,
promoted
economic
reform, strengthened public administration capacity and justice,
and
promoted
social cohesion and stability; and
•
in southern
Iraq, to help reduce poverty and restore the South’s links with
the
centre so
that it could benefit from national programmes; this would include
work
on
infrastructure and job creation, regional media and political
participation.
524
Minute
Drummond to Malik, 21 January 2004, ‘Iraq:
Ministerial’.
525
Minute [MOD
junior official] to APS/Secretary of State [MOD], 21 January 2004,
‘Ad Hoc Ministerial
Group on
Iraq Rehabilitation: 22 January meeting’.
526
Paper DFID,
[undated], ‘Iraq: Interim Country Assistance Plan’.
157