ARMS SALES TO YEMEN: SLOVAK RESPONSE

S E C R E T BRATISLAVA 000290 SIPDIS STATE FOR NP/CBM, NP/ECNP, EUR/NCE, EUR/PRA, NEA/ARP, EUR, PM/WRA, AND EAP/CM E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2015 TAGS: PARM PREL MASS ETTC LO SUBJECT: ARMS SALES TO YEMEN: SLOVAK RESPONSE REF: (A) STATE 60618 (B) STATE 22315 Classified By: Pol-Econ Chief Debra Hevia for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) Exports to Yemen -------------- ¶1. (S) Poloff delivered reftel A demarche April 11 to Gabriela Mrugova in the MFA's Department of Disarmament, OSCE, and Counter-terrorism. Mrugova said neither the GOS nor Slovak arms brokers have exported SA/LW to Yemeni arms brokers. The Slovak MOD sold some non-lethal equipment to Yemen's MOD in the first half of 2004, consisting mainly of spare parts. All sales have confirmed end user certificates from Yemeni military attaches in Cairo or Prague. Mrugova stressed that all sales to Yemen undergo an especially rigorous background inspection taking into account EU law and treaty commitments, whether the items are lethal or non-lethal equipment, potential for terrorist diversion, and information on brokers from the Wassenaar Agreement information system. Mrugova said the Slovak MOD sales were similar to those conducted by other EU states. Hermes Arms Broker Update -------------- ¶2. (S) Following up on reftel B, Mrugova offered that the Slovak military intelligence is investigating the Hermes arms broker. The investigation is on-going and the MFA has not received any preliminary conclusions. Inter-ministerial Coordination on Export Controls -------------- -------------- ¶3. (S) Some NGOs have recently criticized Slovak inter-ministerial communication on export controls, claiming the various actors do not speak to one another. Mrugova noted that an inter-ministerial group meets every Tuesday to discuss export license requests. Meetings are attended by a representative from the MOD, MFA, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Interior, the Customs Directorate, the Slovak Intelligence Service, and military intelligence. THAYER NNNN