Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04KUWAIT481
2004-02-12 05:41:00
SECRET
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

(U) KUWAIT COUNTERTERRORISM ACTION GROUP MEETING

Tags:  PTER ASEC EFIN ETTC PREL KU 
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 KUWAIT 000481 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS GGLASS AND NROTHSTEIN; S/CT SFOX
STATE FOR IO/PHO APEREZ
NSC FOR GPETERS
TREASURY FOR GEN COUNSEL DAUFHAUSER; OFAC DIRECTOR RNEWCOMB
TREASURY FOR JZARATE; TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST FINANCING
PARIS FOR PETER KUJAWINSKI, UZRA ZEYA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2014
TAGS: PTER ASEC EFIN ETTC PREL KU
SUBJECT: (U) KUWAIT COUNTERTERRORISM ACTION GROUP MEETING
HELD

REF: SECSTATE 14279

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Frank C. Urbancic,
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (e)

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 KUWAIT 000481

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS GGLASS AND NROTHSTEIN; S/CT SFOX
STATE FOR IO/PHO APEREZ
NSC FOR GPETERS
TREASURY FOR GEN COUNSEL DAUFHAUSER; OFAC DIRECTOR RNEWCOMB
TREASURY FOR JZARATE; TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST FINANCING
PARIS FOR PETER KUJAWINSKI, UZRA ZEYA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2014
TAGS: PTER ASEC EFIN ETTC PREL KU
SUBJECT: (U) KUWAIT COUNTERTERRORISM ACTION GROUP MEETING
HELD

REF: SECSTATE 14279

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Frank C. Urbancic,
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (e)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Embassy convened the first meeting of
Kuwait's counterterrorism action group (CTAG) under US
leadership; the French, Japanese, British, Russian, Italian,
German, Canadian, Swiss and Spanish embassies participated.
Only the US and British have specific anti-terrorism programs
in Kuwait, although all CTAG nations maintain contact with
the Kuwaitis on counterterrorism issues, and many work
through the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) rather than
bilaterally. Several countries have newly established
counterterrorism funds from which they may draw. The group
sees terrorist financing as the primary problem in Kuwait.
Although most countries agree that there is the will within
the Government of Kuwait to combat terrorist financing, they
also concur that it is a very difficult task for the
Kuwaitis. The CTAG made two recommendations: (1) CTAG
members should launch a fresh push to encourage Kuwait to
ratify all international anti-terrorism conventions; and (2)
CTAG should also deal with the GCC as a whole, with CTAG
states taking advantage of every opportunity for
institutional dialogue to stress that they are united on
combating terrorism. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) On February 7, Embassy convened a meeting of Kuwait's
counterterrorism action group (CTAG),the first since the
United States assumed chairmanship of CTAG; representatives
from the French, Japanese, British, Russian, Italian, German,
Canadian, Swiss and Spanish embassies were in attendance.
The Charge being out of town with OIG inspectors, Acting
DCM/Pol Chief chaired the meeting. He began by outlining the
US counterterrorism program in Kuwait, suggesting that each
representative do the same for his/her country.

--------------

(U) Individual Country Strategies
--------------


3. (SBU) United States. A/DCM said that the US's main
counterterrorism focus in Kuwait is combatting terrorist
financing, noting that the Office of Foreign Assets Control's
director had recently made two visits to Kuwait. The US had
found the Government of Kuwait (GOK) to be fully cooperative
in meeting their responsibilities on asset freezes. The US
was also engaging representatives of Islamic charities in
Kuwait. With regard to training initiatives, a team from the
US Department of Justice would be conducting a seminar for
prosecutors on the tracking and prosecution of money
laundering and terrorist finance cases. A/DCM outlined two
other US programs unrelated to anti-terrorist financing. The
first focuses on strengthening Kuwait's control of its border
with Iraq, which has become more vulnerable with the
increased cross-border flow of goods associated with
Operation Iraqi Freedom and the rebuilding of Iraq. Second,
the US provided an airport security course for 24 Kuwaiti
officials in FY2004, and hopes to offer training in VIP
protection and defense against chemical and biological
weapons in FY2005.


4. (C) France. The French Ambassador said that France has
no specific technical assistance or training program for
Kuwait, although it does exchange information . The
Ambassador commented that the French have noted a lack of
initiative among the Kuwaiti services.


5. (SBU) Japan. The Japanese Ambassador remarked that like
the French, Japan has no targeted counterterrorism program
for Kuwait. Rather, Japan is trying to focus its resources
on southeast Asian countries, where it has held numerous
training seminars.

6. (SBU) United Kingdom. The British DCM commented that the
CTAG meeting was particularly timely: the Foreign Office
created a new fund in 2003 for combatting terrorism and each
British mission has been tasked with determining what their
colleagues were doing on counterterrorism. He said that at
present, the British were focusing on two areas: terrorist
financing, and other operational programs (like ordnance
disposal and handling hostage and hijacking situations).
With regard to terrorist financing, the British Embassy had
two specific programs in mind for Kuwait. First, the UK
would assist in drafting legislation to ban terrorist
financing (which would complement existing legislation
criminalizing money laundering),and second, the UK would
work toward strengthening the Central Bank of Kuwait's new
Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).


7. (C) Russia. The Russian DCM said that his government
maintained contacts with the Kuwaiti side and invited a
Ministry of the Interior delegation to visit Russia, but had
received no reply. The Russian delegate also commented that
Russia had designated two Kuwaiti charities -- the Social
Reform Society (SRS) and Lajnat al-Dawa al-Islamiya (LDI) as
terrorist organizations. A/DCM expressed condemnation of the
recent terrorist attack in Moscow, on behalf of the group.


8. (SBU) Italy. According to the Italian DCM, Italy also
has no specific program in Kuwait, although it is interested
in establishing one. He pointed out that the Italian
government, as the then-President of the European Union,
organized a November 2003 seminar in Brussels that included a
session particularly for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
countries. However, since the seminar occurred during
Ramadan, the Kuwaitis only sent one individual from the
Central Bank. He stressed that every high-level Italian
visitor reminds the GOK of the importance of combatting
terrorism, and noted that the Governor of the Central Bank
has expressed an interest in visiting Italy to learn more
about anti-money laundering legislation.


9. (SBU) Germany. The German DCM also observed that the
CTAG meeting was particularly timely. He said that Germany
did not have a counterterrorism program for Kuwait, although
like the British, the Germans created a counterterrorism fund
last year. He suggested that either Kuwait could be added to
Germany's list of targeted countries or, preferably, that
CTAG could focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as a
whole. For the latter to occur, he noted, the GCC's profile
would have to be raised in higher-level CTAG meetings. He
said that on a bilateral basis, Germany would be willing to
support anti-money laundering programs (since Germany is an
active member in the Financial Action Task Force, or FATF)
and would also consider monitoring Kuwaiti charitable
organizations.


10. (SBU) Canada. Like most of the other representatives,
the Canadian political counselor (resident in Abu Dhabi) said
that her government has no particular counterterrorism
program in Kuwait, although Canada has identified new funding
for counterterrorism projects in the region. She then asked
for the group's reaction to the creation of an anti-money
laundering body for the Middle East and North Africa in
Bahrain; none of the other attendees had any information on
this development.


11. (SBU) Switzerland. The Swiss Ambassador commented that
his government had not been contacted by Kuwait -- or any
other government in the region -- for assistance, even though
the Swiss government signaled that it would collaborate with
GCC governments as needed. Generally speaking, he said that
Switzerland focuses its attention on developing countries,
especially Latin America and the Caribbean. The Swiss would
be prepared, however, to provide similar technical assistance
to Kuwait if asked to do so.


12. (SBU) Spain. Spain's ambassador remarked that terrorism
is a huge problem for Spain and said that although his
country has no program in Kuwait, it currently oversees
several counterterrorism programs in Latin America, focusing
primarily on judicial reform, legal cooperation, and
anti-money laundering.


13. (SBU) To avoid problems of duplication and to facilitate
exchanges of information on the outcomes of CTAG countries'
counterterrorism efforts in Kuwait, the participants agreed
to consult each other informally when pursuing similar
counterterrorism activities.

--------------
(S) CTAG Views on Problems in Kuwait
--------------


14. (S) The bulk of the CTAG's discussion centered on
combating terrorist financing. The French ambassador
reported that a Kuwaiti ambassador to a southeast Asian
country had told him that one of the diplomats serving under
him was transferring cash to extremist organizations.
(Comment. The country involved was Indonesia, we ascertained
off-line. Please protect accordingly. Embassy has passed
this information through appropriate channels for separate
action. End Comment.) The Kuwaiti ambassador complained to
his boss, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, about the
situation. The Spanish ambassador, who had also heard the
same story, said that he called on the Kuwaiti Minister of
Social Affairs, who responded that there is nothing the GOK
can do because under Islam, each person has an obligation to
give charitably. What the Minister said the GOK could do is
prevent transfers through banks (although in the Minister's
view, the reality is that most exchanges go through the
hawala system or are made through trusted individuals). The
Minister emphasized that the GOK was doing all it could to
control money that moves through regular channels, but said
that it could not control hawala transfers. According to the
Spanish ambassador, the Minister acknowledged that the GOK
realized it would never be able to do the job it would like
to do in controlling funds.


15. (SBU) The German DCM cautioned that the group should not
forget that there is nothing inherently wrong with the hawala
system (which he said was invented by Germany and Italy),
although there was reason to be careful. He noted that the
Saudi Minister of Finance pointed out to the German
ambassador there that not everyone can afford to open bank
accounts in the Gulf (particularly third country nationals),
and many are thus forced to use alternative systems. The
British DCM agreed, and added that there is a huge hawala
industry in the UK, mostly involving people from the
subcontinent. He said that the UK authorities have not
devoted many resources to monitoring the hawala system
because there is evidence that nearly all large amounts of
cash go through regulated banks.


16. (SBU) The Swiss ambassador wondered if CTAG countries
should become more aware of other methods of money
laundering. As an example, he noted that goods can be
exchanged several times, each with a higher stated value as a
way of laundering funds. The French ambassador added that
since hawala exchanges are cash based, they are very hard to
trace. The Swiss ambassador suggested that financial
institutions in the region might be interested in creating
systems to prevent this sort of activity.


17. (C) The French ambassador raised the issue of Lajnat
al-Dawa al-Islamiya (LDI),a Kuwaiti charity that was
designated by the US and the UN following a French
recommendation (septel). He said a Kuwaiti official had told
him the US was asking LDI to resume activity in Afghanistan.
A/DCM assured him that the US continued to support LDI's
designation; at the same time, the US has made it clear to
the Kuwaitis that it has nothing against Islamic charities
and encourages those to help the Afghans. The French
ambassador also inquired about the receptivity of the
Kuwaitis to counterterrorism efforts. Both the US and
British representatives commented that the Kuwaitis have been
receptive, without showing much initiative. According to
A/DCM, there is political will at the top levels of the GOK
to fight terrorism because they understand the consequences
of not doing so. Absent political will at the top, all
efforts would fail, but with the will to combat terrorism,
there is hope. Still, he said, it is very difficult for us,
let alone the Kuwaitis, to control terrorist financing or
other forms of money laundering (specifically referring to
drug money).

-------------- ---
(U) Coordinating Programs in Kuwait and the Gulf
-------------- ---


18. (SBU) The Kuwait CTAG decided upon two recommendations,
which we hereby convey on behalf of the group, to the USG as
chair of the February 20 meeting in Washington.

-- First, launch a fresh push to encourage ratification of
all international anti-terrorism conventions. Germany noted
that to be effective, the CTAG states need to be able to say
they have ratified all. Under French leadership last year,
the CTAG made a joint demarche to the Kuwaitis urging them to
ratify the protocols. (Note: Kuwait is a party to nine of
the twelve international antiterrorism conventions. End
Note.) The Spanish ambassador stressed that it would be good
for the group to keep pressure on the Kuwaitis, so that the
GOK understands that CTAG countries are concerned about
anti-terrorism. A/DCM agreed that impressing upon host
governments that CTAG states are united and see
counterterrorism as a priority is in itself a powerful
message.

-- Second, deal with the GCC states as a group and ensure
that CTAG states take advantage of every opportunity for
institutional dialogue to stress their unity on combating
terrorism. The German DCM noted that using a two-tiered,
complementary approach on counterterrorism -- at the
bilateral level and at the CTAG-GCC level -- would allow CTAG
countries that do not have allocations specifically for
bilateral counterterrorism programs to contribute to broader
initiatives. The Spanish ambassador concurred, and suggested
that GCC countries might be able to take positions more
easily under a GCC rubric than individually. The French
ambassador said that anti-terrorist cooperation should be
raised at the EU-GCC Dialogue in Dublin this March. Since
the Kuwaitis currently hold the presidency of the GCC, the
Italian representative pointed out, the timing could be very
good. A/DCM noted that GCC heavyweight Saudi Arabia has
taken a much stronger stand against terrorism since the May
attack in Riyadh.
URBANCIC