08-F-1338 Update for LPB Dec-22-2003

Page 1 of 1 031222-07 Schneider, Caroline M. (CIV) From: Putnam, Candace E. (FS-02) Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 1:11 PM To: Executive Secretary; Bucci, Steven P. (0-6) Cc: Pittman, Howard D. (FS-01); Siddiq Irfan (CIV); Khalil, Lydia CIV Policy Subject: update forLPB Pachachi called requesting medical assistance for his uncle, who fell and apparently broke a hip. We transferred him to the CSH this morning. Ja'afari is holding a press conference at 3pm today to announce Hajj arrangements. Candace and Judge Rubini have a meeting this afternoon with Mouwaffac al Rubaie on anti-corruption. Nouri Badran wants to start holding regular press conferences; Lydia is working with him to set one up next week and coordinate on media messages. I have seen no readout of Amb Jones' meeting with Minister of Communication yesterday, but Bremer will want an update on the telecoms license issue. Irfan is out he can provide a readout later in the day on Greenstock's meetings with Ja'afari and Chalabi. 12/22/2003 Message Page 2 of 4 031222-08 USAID Daily Iraq Update December 22, 2003 Highlights Local Governance: Focus groups in southern Iraq showed that educated Iraqis support the June transition date, while only a minority wants a sooner date. Economic Growth: The new Iraqi dinar continues to appreciate, settling at a price of 1,675 dinars per dollar on December 18th Education: epresentatives from US universities participating in the Iraq-US university partnershi raveled to Iraq to meet with their counterparts and begin establishing work plan: Health: Health professionals in Al Basrah have completed a 10-day training of trainers course and will now train another 200 doctors at primary healthcare centers around the governorate. Telecommunications: Final-clean up and jumper-cable repairs at Baghdad's Baya telecommunications site are nearly complete. Once all repairs are complete, the site will serve 24,000 customers. Full Report Local Governance • Focus groups held in Al Basrah, An Najaf, and Al Hillah last week expressed a generally positive reaction to the November 15 announcement that the Coalition Provisional Authority would be handed over to the Transitional National Assembly on June 30. The focus groups, each attended by 25 men and 25 women, were conducted by USAID's Local Governance Program. Group coordinators found that: • The majority of participants had heard of the announcement, even though the one million planned leaflets announcing the news had not yet been circulated. • The initial reaction to the announcement of the transition was positive, and many Iraqis are hopeful for an end to occupation in June. • A vocal, emotional minority felt that the Coalition Forces must leave soon. A small majority felt that they should remain until complete peace and stability were established. Most participants who were educated to high-school or above understood the announcemer ad very few questions, and were supportive of the goal. Those with less education did n 12/22/2003 Page 3 of 4 Message understand all the language and were more ambivalent about whether the announcement was valid and would happen as scheduled. • Bushra al Dulaimi, a well-known female Iraqi lawyer, will prepare a critical evaluation of the modern legal status of Iraqi women to provide background for USAID local governance projects. The report will concentrate on personal status laws and amendments introduced by the former regime, over the past 30 years, and will analyze the effect on the lives of Iraqi women and their families. Largely introduced during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the laws and amendments concern women's rights in divorce, custody, and employment. Al Dulaimi's report will be used by USAID's Local Governance Program as background for planning its countrywide civic education campaign and focus groups. Economic Growth • The new Iraqi dinar continues to appreciate. At the daily foreign exchange auction on December 18, seven banks bid for $925,000, and $180,000 was sold, including all bids at or above the day's settlement price of 1,675 dinars per dollar. The Central Bank bought $350,000 at the auction--all of the dollars being offered by commercial banks. The new Iraqi dinar was introduced on October 15 with an exchange rate of 2,015 per dollar. The daily currency exchange is facilitated by USAID partner BearingPoint. • On December 20, new currency was collected from 18 banks, and 205 tons of old currency was collected from 22 banks. • Currently, 5.6 trillion new Iraqi dinars are in country (89 percent of the 6.3-trillion dinar goal), and 3.8 trillion are in circulation (88 percent of the 4.36 trillion goal). To date, 2,256 tons of old currency--nearly a quarter of the 9,000 tons that exist--have been destroyed. Education Five U.S. university representatives travelled to Iraq to meet their Iraqi partners in mid-December. Representatives of De Paul University, Jackson State University, the University of Hawaii, the University of Oklahoma, and the State University of New York/Stony Brook traveled to Baghdad, Mosul, Arbil, and Basrah to meet with their Iraqi partners. US University representatives met with CPA and USAID officials to launch their University Partnerships in Amman, Jordan, December USAID's HEAD program has awarded five grants worth $15 million to U.S. universities and university consortiums to partner with Iraqi higher education institutions in archaeology, environmental health, agriculture, legal education reform, public health, sanitation, and higher education. Health • Last week, 22 Basrah-area health professionals completed a 10-day training of trainers course in primary healthcare and family medicine. Attendees learned primary care best practices and training 12/22/2003 • Message Page 4 of 4 techniques, with special emphasis on life-saving and child-survival interventions. The participants, selected by the Directorate General for Health in Al Basrah Governorate, are specialists in internal medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics, and public health. Over the next three months, they will roll out the training program to more than 200 doctors at primary healthcare centers around the governorate. • The program, developed and implemented by USAID partner Abt Associates, began with a naster trainer course in October, and will end by reaching personnel from 600 clinics ir seven governorates. The course is being conducted at Al Razi primary healthcare clinic training center, which was established by Abt in Al Basrah. Power • Power production peaked at 3,044 MW on December 20, and the system generated 68,770 MW hours. Thirty MW were imported from Syria, and 80 MW were imported from Turkey. Total demand for power was estimated at 5,236 MW on December 20. • The fuel supply for the gas turbine units in Al Hillah and An Najaf was restored to full pressure on December 21. The plants had been offline since early last week due to a sabotaged pipeline. The units, which have the combined capacity to produce 90 MW of power, are being returned to operational status. • As of December 20, 46 units with the capacity to produce 2,094 MW of power were offline for service. Twenty-two units with the capacity to produce 715 MW were out for unscheduled service. 'hree thermal and seven gas turbine units with the capacity to produce 414 MW of power were ou or scheduled rehabilitation. Nine thermal units and six gas turbine units with the capacity t produce 965 MW of power are out of service for scheduled maintenance. Sabotage continues to constrain power transmission. Seven towers on the Musalla-Rumalla 132-kV line, which ties generation in the south to the north, are down due to sabotage. The Mosul-Mosul East and Omara-Burzegan 132-kV lines are also down due to sabotage. Repairs to the Bayji-Mosul #1 400-kV line are expected to be completed early this week. The line, which has been down since late November due to collapsed towers, is critical to the transmission of power from the north to the south. Telecommunications • Iraqi Telephone and Postal Company (ITPC) engineers are finishing the final clean up and jumper- cable installation at Baya telecommunications site. Baya is one of 12 telecommunications sites in Iraq being rehabilitated under a $32-million Bechtel job order to be completed in January. Located n a residential neighborhood in Baghdad's suburbs, Baya will serve 24,000 customers when it i rought back online. Once the switching equipment has been installed and cable repairs completed ITPC will proceed to repair the subscriber lines that link individual homes to the telephone 12/22/2003°