BLUE LANTERN UPDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 001861 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2015 TAGS: ETTC KOMC MASS AG SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN UPDATE REF: A. ALGIERS 1677 ¶B. STATE 143058 Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) In an August 30 meeting dealing with a number of issues, Ambassador, accompanied by PolEc Chief, raised the suspension of equipment licenses to Algeria under the Blue Lantern program with MFA Director General for the Americas Chikhi. Ambassador said we were perplexed by Algeria's recent unwillingness to perform Blue Lantern verifications, since in the past the GOA routinely cooperated on such matters. Then the cooperation stopped. Because the GOA has not responded to our requests for pending verifications of two sensitive military exports, the Department has been obliged to suspend equipment licenses to Algeria. As a result, $30 million in exports were currently blocked. This is not good, either for Algeria, or the United States. ¶2. (C) Ambassador explained that the U.S. had complete confidence in Algeria, which was why we trusted the GOA to verify the receipt and proper use of sensitive shipments. We did not, however, have the same confidence in the exporter in the two licensing cases in question. In fact, we had strong reason to believe, Ambassador said, that the South African company involved has not always respected its obligations under the licensing agreements. That was why we needed GOA confirmation that the equipment arrived and was properly being used. ¶3. (C) Chikhi, knowing the answer to his question before he posed it, asked if our DATT had contacted the DREC (Director of External Relations) at the Ministry of Defense. Ambassador noted that the DATT had held repeated meetings with the DREC on this issue, adding that he had also requested an appointment with MOD Minister-Delegate Guenaizia to press for a resolution. Ambassador wondered aloud whether the problem was due to changes in personnel at the Ministry of Defense and lack of familiarity with the nature and history of the Blue Lantern program. Whatever the case, the lack of cooperation with the Blue Lantern program was damaging for Algeria and needed to be resolved quickly. ¶4. (C) Comment: Embassy DATT confirms that the Blue Lantern problems began with the arrival of the new DREC Director General (General Sefendji). In a recent conversation, following several Embassy interventions at senior levels, Sefendji recently hinted to DATT that a "solution" to the problem might be found soon. ERDMAN