BLUE LANTERN LEVEL III: END USE CHECK ON

UNCLAS SANAA 002470 SIPDIS PASS TO PM/DDTC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KOMC ETTC YE SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN LEVEL III: END USE CHECK ON MUNITIONS LICENSE NO. 839601 REF: A. SECSTATE 285781 ¶B. STATE 233133 ¶1. Pol/Econ Officer and Commercial Specialist visited Mohamed Abdulrahman Kawkaban, the General Manager of Summer Tour and Travel located on Hadha Street, Sanaa. Kawkaban is also an owner and executive officer of the Kawkaban Modern Center, a separate company that brokered the procurement order (reftel) on behalf of the Minister of Interior (MOI) for the Central Security Organization (CSO) of the MOI. ¶2. Kawkaban reported that five items were initially ordered: tactical vests, ceramic protective plates, tactical helmets, gas masks, and face shields. This complete order was initially to be procured from an undisclosed French company; after meetings with the U.S.-based firm Armor Holdings Company (which has branches in UAE, London, and Paris), Kawkaban elected to procure the equipment from the U.S. company due to their more competitive prices and higher standards of quality. He further explained that after a misunderstanding regarding the specifications of some of the products which were being ordered from Armor Holding, Kawkaban canceled the order for the helmets and the face shields with no plans to reorder them. The order was thus reduced to three items. According to Kawkaban, the tactical vests are being shipped from the London-based branch of the Armor Holding company, and the ceramic plates and gas masks are being shipped from the U.S. All three items on the order are still pending delivery in the near future. Post can schedule a follow-up visit once the materials arrive in country. ¶3. Kawkaban and his business enterprise appeared to be above-board. Kawkaban was open to discussing his business, business contacts, and the details of the purchases, to include confirmation of the end-user, the officers in charge of the procurement for the CSO, and his contact with them. Kawkaban explained that Summer Tour and Travel is owned by the Al-Maz Group, a large and fairly well-known enterprise; he said there is no relationship between his Kawkaban Modern Center company and Al-Maz other than the fact that he is the GM for the travel agency, and on occasion, uses their computers, faxes, and office spaces for his personal business. Kawkaban is a family business and company which was founded by his father who established the entity in 1967. Currently, Kawkaban manages the company with his brothers. Post's commercial section has little information on the company which specializes in import and export, specifically for various ROYG ministries and agencies. HULL