PREVENTING TRAVEL TO POSSIBLE KONGRA-GEL

S E C R E T ROME 001681 E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2008 TAGS: PTER EUN TU IT SUBJECT: PREVENTING TRAVEL TO POSSIBLE KONGRA-GEL CONFERENCE: ITALIAN RESPONSE REF: A. STATE 89155 ¶B. 03 ROME 5175 CLASSIFIED BY: ECONOMIC COUNSELOR KATHLEEN REDDY FOR REASONS 1.5 (B,D) ¶1. (S) INFORMATION IN REFTEL WAS SHARED APRIL 27 WITH PAOLO VAIRA OF THE MFA'S COUNTER-TERRORISM OFFICE. VAIRA AND THE DIRECTOR OF THE COUNTER-TERRORISM OFFICE, GIAMPAOLO CANTINI, ALREADY HAD SEEN A COPY OF THE U.S. DEMARCHE, WHICH HAD BEEN TRANSMITTED BY THE EU COMMISSION - JIM CLOOS - TO MEMBERS OF THE COREPER. (NEITHER CANTINI NOR VAIRA WAS AVAILABLE FOR A MEETING WITH US PRIOR TO APRIL 27.) ¶2. (S) VAIRA SAID THAT THE GOI ACUTELY UNDERSTOOD THE IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTING KONGRA GEL MEMBERS FROM TRAVELING, ESPECIALLY TO IRAQ. WHILE EU CLEARINGHOUSE DECISIONS PERMIT BOTH ASSET FREEZING AND A TRAVEL BAN, IN PRACTICALITY, RESTRICTING THE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE CAN BE MORE DIFFICULT THAN FREEZING FUNDS, VAIRA NOTED. IN RESPONSE TO THE U.S. DEMARCHE, THE ABSENCE OF SPECIFIC NAMES OF INDIVIDUALS AND IDENTIFYING DATA WOULD MAKE TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS IMPOSSIBLE, HE SAID. THE U.S. DEMARCHE DOES APPROPRIATELY RAISE THE ISSUE OF HOW TO RESTRICT TRAVEL WITHIN, AND FROM, EU COUNTRIES, PARTICULARLY IN SCHENGEN COUNTRIES, OF INDIVIDUALS BELONGING TO LISTED TERRORIST GROUPS. THE GOI FACED THE ISSUE DIRECTLY WITH THE TRAVEL OF YOUSSEF NADA AND AHMED NASREDDIN, WHO ARE LISTED IN U.N. TERRORIST LISTS, VAIRA REMARKED (REF B). VISIT ROME'S CLASSIFIED WEBSITE: HTTP://WWW.STATE.SGOV.GOV/P/EUR/ROME/INDEX.CF M SEMBLER