This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KUWAIT 001830
SIPDIS
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/W
STATE PLEASE REPEAT TO IO COLLECTIVE
STATE FOR PRM/ANE, EUR/SE, NEA/NGA, IO AND SA/PAB
NSC FOR EABRAMS, SMCCORMICK, STAHIR-KHELI, JDWORKEN
USAID FOR USAID/A, DCHA/AA, DCHA/RMT, DCHA/FFP
USAID FOR DCHA/OTI, DCHA/DG, ANE/AA
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA:WGARVELINK, BMCCONNELL, KFARNSWORTH
USAID FOR ANE/AA:WCHAMBERLIN
ROME FOR FODAG
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH
DOHA FOR MSHIRLEY
ANKARA FOR AMB WRPEARSON, ECON AJSIROTIC AND DART
AMMAN FOR USAID AND DART
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID PREF IZ WFP
SUBJECT: TFIZ01: DART ASSESSMENT OF HEET AND AL HADITHAH
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SUMMARY
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1. DART Field Team West began assessing communities along
the Euphrates River northeast of Ar Ramadi on 27 April. The
DART traveled the main highway between Ar Rutbah and the
intersection with Highway 12. The DART assessed both the
Heet and Al Hadithah communities in Al Anbar governorate.
In general, the DART found no significant immediate
emergency needs in these communities.
Electricity and food are available, potable water systems
are operating, markets are open, and the PDS is functioning.
End Summary.
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GENERAL CONDITIONS IN HEET
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2. Heet had only intermittent loss of electricity and water
during and after the war, and utilities are now at pre-war
levels. The biggest problem appears to be a lack of propane
gas for cooking fuel. Some residents reported that they
were beginning to use wood as cooking fuel. The market and
shops were open and busy with many different vegetables and
meats for sale, although eggs, milk, and fruits were not
visible.
3. In Heet, the DART visited the Oil for Food (OFF) program
flour mill, which is operating. According to the OFF mill
manager in Heet, all four Anbar mills are functioning at
full capacity and producing a combined total of 13,000
metric tons (MT) per month. According to the manager, this
OFF milling operation serves approximately 1.25 million
beneficiaries.
4. The Heet mill is located on Highway 12 north from Ar
Ramadi. Heet's power grid was providing electricity, and
diesel fuel for the plant's back-up generators was
available. The plant was well-managed, clean, and running
at full capacity. The DART was invited inside the facility
to photograph and observe mill operations, which included
grain milling, bagging, and dock loading for immediate
shipment of flour to the Anbar flour agents. The Heet mill
is supplied by the grain warehouse and silo in Ar Ramadi.
The mill manager stated that the Ar Ramadi warehouse has
40,000 MT of grain in stock. This information needs to be
confirmed.
5. Although a rapid assessment of the public distribution
system (PDS) was not conducted, a local flour agent stated
that other food supplies for Heet are adequate. He also
stated that recent OFF deliveries of rice, oil, and beans
were insufficient and that Heet's Wakils (PDS agents) were
present and working.
6. The mill manager expressed concerns that donations of
wheat flour would have adverse affects on the milling
industry in the area and asked the DART "not to bring flour
to Heet." The Heet mill employs 50 workers who are
paid through income generated by milling waste. According
to mill operations manager, 85 percent of whole grain is
converted to high quality flour. The remaining 15 percent
is used to make a lesser quality flour for bread products
and is sold. Proceeds from these sales compensate the mill
owner who then pays the workers.
7. People interviewed by the DART stated that the Heet area
did not witness any military activity or receive any damage
during the conflict.
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GENERAL CONDITIONS IN AL HADITHAH
---------------------------------
8. Al Hadithah lacked electricity and water for only a
short period during the war and is now at pre-war utility
standards. The telephone system is functional within city
limits. The market and shops were open and busy with
many different vegetables and meats for sale, although eggs,
milk, and fruits were not visible. One building had been
converted into the local headquarters of the Iraqi National
Congress Party with a sign out front that read "Welcome to
Democracy." Coalition forces and the Corps of
Engineers are based near the Al Qadisiy Dam, and on 27 April
they detonated several caches of arms, explosives, and
unexploded ordinance (UXOs) near the city.
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AL HADITHAH'S HOSPITAL AND HEALTH CONDITIONS
--------------------------------------------
9. According to Hospital Director Dr. Khayoun Abdullah, the
Al Hadithah General Hospital and its network of five primary
health centers treated 86 people with injuries sustained
from the conflict. Another 31 died from war-related
injuries. Since the war's end, three children and one adult
were injured by UXOs. The hospital itself was damaged by a
bomb that fell in a cemetery 50 meters from the hospital,
smashing some of the facility's windows. Throughout the
city, 30 houses were destroyed. Occupants of these houses
are currently staying in the homes of extended family
members.
10. The hospital, and the city, had electricity and water
for all but a few days during the war. The director's
primary concern is a lack of certain equipment and essential
drugs, such as antibiotics and medicines for chronic
diseases, although he admitted this shortage had been an
ongoing problem. The hospital had sufficient supplies of
oxygen that the director said was of 99.6 percent
concentration.
11. Dr. Abdullah said there was not a childhood nutrition
problem in Al Hadithah, with only 10 to 20 children
transferred to the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Ar Ramadi in
the last 12 years for nutritional problems. The most common
health problems were amoebic dysentery, acute respiratory
infections, gastro-intestinal problems, and in the last 5 to
10 years, tuberculosis.
12. The hospital, serving the community of 80,000, has a
nutrition rehabilitation center but chronically lacks
therapeutic milk. CARE regularly supplements the hospital's
supply of milk and, last year, rehabilitated the facility.
The city does not have a community pediatric unit but does
have an ongoing immunization program.
13. The city's health system has three pharmacists and 27
doctors, seven of whom are women.
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FOOD IN AL HADITHAH
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14. According to the Wakil manager of the Haqlaniyah and
Barwanah Wakils, the PDS system is functioning and food
supplies are sufficient for the next two to three months.
Haqlaniyah and Barwanah are two smaller communities near
Haditha and are served by approximately 145 Wakils. They
have not had any significant delays in OFF deliveries. All
Wakils are in place and willing to continue working.
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AL QADISIY DAM
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15. The Al Qadisiy dam, designed by the Soviets and
completed in the late 1970s, produces 15 to 20 percent of
Iraq's electricity. There are three main lines of 400
kilovolt-amperes (KVAs) and six smaller ones of 132 KVA.
The three main lines run to western Baghdad, Al Qa'im (near
Syria), and Bayji (north of Tikrit). The Corps of Engineers
is working at the dam, and local Iraqi staff continue to
manage the day-to-day operations on a 24-hour basis.
According to Corps of Engineers personnel, the Al Qa'im line
should be fully powered in days. The dam's normal peak
production is 200 megawatts. Today, it is producing 125mw.
16. The 8 kilometer-long dam normally employs 300 people,
although there are only 50 currently at work. Most staff
should be receiving their monthly salary within days from
existing Iraqi funds that had been earmarked for the staff.
The dam is run by the Ministry of Electricity and "owned" by
the Ministry of Irrigation. The Corps of Engineers arrived
on 5 April to assess and help run the dam. They found
minimal structural damage and said that the plant had not
been looted, although hard drives had been removed from
computers.
JONES