URUGUAY ON DONATIONS TO IRAQI AND AFGHAN SECURITY

S E C R E T MONTEVIDEO 000196 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR WHA/BSC AND NEA/I E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2016 TAGS: MARR MASS MOPS PINS PREL AF IZ UY SUBJECT: URUGUAY ON DONATIONS TO IRAQI AND AFGHAN SECURITY FORCES REF: STATE 22896 Classified By: Charge D'Affaires James D. Nealon for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (S/NF) PolCouns delivered reftel demarche to the MFA's Director General for Political Affairs Ambassador Bruno Faraone on February 24. After discussing some of the items on the list, Faraone said weapons donations were not possible, but that he would look into the ""feasibility"" of donating locally-manufactured water purification units known as ""UPAs."" He said that it would take some time to evaluate if such a donation was possible, particularly because of the Carnaval holidays on February 27 and 28. Faraone personally doubted that Uruguay would have the funds to transport items such as water purification units to either Iraq or Afghanistan. He also commented that the GOU was generally more inclined to help Afghanistan security forces rather than Iraqi ones since it considered the Iraqi intervention to be a mistake."" Comment: -------------- ¶2. (S/NF) Uruguay previously donated two UPAs for Iraq that were subsequently destroyed in a ground attack by insurgents. The GOU appears to be unaware that that the units were destroyed. Uruguay also offered UPAs to assist the city of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In that instance, Uruguay did not have the funds to ship the UPAs to New Orleans and the donation was not accepted. End Comment. Nealon