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### Viewing cable 08REYKJAVIK195, ICELAND: PEACEKEEPING TAKES ON A MORE CIVILIAN LOOK AFTER

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08REYKJAVIK195 | 2008-09-09 17:00 | 2011-01-13 05:37 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Reykjavik

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    VZCZCXRO8797
    PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
    DE RUEHRK #0195/01 2531700
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 091700Z SEP 08
    FM AMEMBASSY REYKJAVIK
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3787
    INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0022
    RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
    RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE 0077
    RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
    RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC

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    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 REYKJAVIK 000195

    SIPDIS

    DEPT FOR EUR/NB, EUR/RPM, SCA/A
    OSLO FOR DATT
    DOD FOR OSD(P) HARVEY, FENTON
    EUCOM FOR J-5 (ISLAND COMMANDER ICELAND)

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2013
    TAGS: MOPS KPKO MARR PGOV PREL AF IC
    SUBJECT: ICELAND: PEACEKEEPING TAKES ON A MORE CIVILIAN LOOK AFTER
    REPORT ON 2004 "CHICKEN STREET INCIDENT"

    Ref:  06 REYKJAVIK 431

    Classified by: Amb. Carol van Voorst for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

    ¶1. (U) Summary: On August 26, Minister for Foreign Affairs Ingibjorg
    Solrun Gisladottir announced that Icelandic peacekeepers would only
    in rare circumstances carry arms, and that civilian and military
    tasks would be more clearly separated in future peacekeeping
    assignments.  Gisladottir made the comments in response to an
    MFA-commissioned report on the suicide attack on Icelandic Crisis
    Response Unit (ICRU) peacekeepers in Kabul in October 2004.  The
    Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) will stop manning the seven
    positions where Icelandic peacekeeping forces have had to carry
    weapons in Afghanistan.  Instead, civilian, unarmed specialists will
    be offered for these jobs.  The FM's decision is the latest sign of a
    shift towards development aid that reduces the impact of Icelandic
    contributions to NATO's and ISAF's operations in Afghanistan.  End
    Summary.

    ¶2. (U) On October 23, 2004 three Icelandic peacekeepers serving in
    Afghanistan were injured in a suicide bombing at a store on Kabul's
    Chicken Street that killed an 11-year-old Afghan girl and a
    23-year-old American woman.  Icelanders were shocked by the news, as
    much by television images of the peacekeepers wearing military
    uniforms and carrying weapons as by the attack itself.  By and large,
    Icelanders had been under the impression that their peacekeepers were
    fulfilling civilian tasks in Afghanistan, though the Government of
    Iceland had allowed them to carry weapons pursuant to force
    protection requirements and be issued military rank.

    ¶3. (U) In April of this year, FM Gisladottir announced that she had
    asked two former Supreme Court justices to investigate the 2004
    attack, with a particular emphasis on the Icelandic Government's
    reaction to the incident.  This new interest came out of renewed
    efforts by opposition members of parliament to press the MFA on the
    issue of compensation for the victims of the attack.  FM Gisladottir
    presented the report at a press conference at the MFA on August 26.
    The main findings included:
    -- Icelandic authorities should better delineate between military and
    civilian tasks fulfilled by the ICRU.
    -- Icelandic authorities have not yet paid disability  benefits to
    two of the three Icelandic peacekeepers who were injured in the
    attack.  The authorities should expedite this process.
    -- In the 2004 incident the Icelandic peacekeepers took appropriate
    advance security precautions and reacted properly in every way.
    -- A detailed set of rules on the specifics of travel in danger zones
    should be drafted.  The set of rules should note whether personal
    travel in danger zones should be authorized.
    -- All decision-making on individual trips by peacekeepers shall be
    meticulous, and the roles and jurisdiction of individual supervisors
    on such trips should be defined.
    -- Risk assessment of individual trips into danger zones should be
    made, and situations that could conceivably give terrorists space and
    opportunity to organize and execute attacks should be avoided.
    -- A systematic plan listing the appropriate responses to incidents,
    such as the one on Chicken Street, should be in place.
    -- The justices criticize Icelandic authorities for not initiating a
    systematic investigation into the incident after it took place. Such
    an investigation could have shed light on how and why the incident
    occurred and what lessons can be learned from it.

    ¶4. (U) At the press conference FM Gisladottir stated that the work of
    the ICRU should be strictly limited to civilian tasks.  She said that
    only specially trained people, who are authorized to carry weapons
    when working domestically (e.g., police officers and the Coast
    Guard's Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit), would carry weapons when
    working for the ICRU.  According to Gisladottir, the MFA will stop
    manning the seven positions with ISAF where Icelandic peacekeeping
    forces have had to carry weapons and have been assigned military
    ranks for the period of their assignment.  All seven positions are
    part of Iceland's detachment overseeing NATO operations at Kabul
    International Airport.  Civilian, unarmed specialists will be offered
    for these jobs to the extent that ISAF security regulations permit.
    MFA contacts have clarified that at present, there is no plan to keep
    filling these posts should incumbents be required to carry arms.

    ¶5. (U) Reaction to the report was minimal, but, as expected,
    Steingrimur Sigfusson, Chairman of Iceland's leading opposition party
    the Left-Green Movement (LGM), welcomed the Foreign Minister's new
    policy on the ICRU and said it conformed better to the Left-Green
    vision of Icelandic peacekeeping.  Sigfusson bemoaned, however, that

    REYKJAVIK 00000195  002 OF 002

    the FM stopped short of outlawing any carrying of arms by Icelandic
    peacekeepers.  The Campaign Against Warfare (formerly known as the
    Union of Military Base Opponents) said this was an important step
    away from the "militarization of the ICRU."

    ¶6.  (U) The lawyer for the three peacekeepers who were injured in the
    attack seized upon the report's recommendations and said his clients
    might sue the Icelandic state if it did not pay their claims for
    disability benefits, including lost wages, medical expenses and
    related pain and suffering.  The three peacekeepers have been engaged
    in a battle with the state as to whether it is liable to pay
    compensation, given that the incident did not take place in Iceland.
    FM Gisladottir said at the press conference that the MFA will take a
    careful look at their case, and see what the ministry can do to
    expedite the processing of the case.  The plaintiffs' lawyer says he
    is optimistic that a solution could be found, and that he was
    scheduled to discuss it at a meeting at the MFA on August 28.

    ¶7. (C) The Foreign Minister's announcement was not universally lauded
    within her ministry, as working-level contacts in the ICRU office and
    the Icelandic Defense Agency (which handles operational ties to NATO)
    expressed frustration over the new rules.  Though resigned to
    Gisladottir's views on arming Icelandic peacekeepers, these contacts
    noted to EmbOff that the new rules were overly limiting and hampered
    Iceland's ability to make a worthwhile contribution to peacekeeping
    operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere.  Some contacts admitted that
    they will just have to wait "until the next elections" (in 2011)
    before there will be hope of a policy change in the other direction.

    ¶8. (C) Comment:  FM Gisladottir's decision to stop manning the seven
    positions in Afghanistan that require arms is in sync with her policy
    of improving the domestic image of the ICRU, and continues a trend
    begun by her immediate predecessor.  Gisladottir's decision now is
    also reminiscent of her move to withdraw Iceland's sole
    representative at NATO Training Mission-Iraq in September 2007, a
    move later lampooned by the U.S. t.v. show "The Daily Show" to some
    embarassment here in Reykjavik.  The FM has been under pressure from
    pacifist elements in her own party as well as the Left-Greens, who
    have long advocated pulling out the ICRU from war zones, such as Iraq
    and Afghanistan.  Those close to Gisladottir may hope that this most
    recent change to the ICRU operating procedures will carve out some
    breathing space on the left.  In April 2007, Gisladottir's
    predecessor, Valgerdur Sverrisdottir, pulled out the Icelandic mobile
    liaison teams working under ISAF at PRT Chaghcharan in Afghanistan's
    Ghor Province.  Gisladottir appears to be set on continuing a similar
    policy.  By restricting the carrying of arms to the small pool of
    those who are previously authorized to do so in Iceland, and try to
    fill civilian positions instead, Gisladottir has shown a clear
    indication of her preference for development aid over
    security-oriented assistance in Afghanistan.  Unfortunately, this
    effort seems blind to the fact that this greatly reduces the
    operational value of Iceland's support to ISAF.  End Comment.

    VAN VOORST

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