UN AND CT: DENMARK, BELGIUM, ARGENTINA SHARE VIEWS

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001930

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR IO/PSC:JSANDAGE AND S/CT:KCHANDLER/MNORMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER UNSC PREL KNNP KTFN
SUBJECT: UN AND CT: DENMARK, BELGIUM, ARGENTINA SHARE VIEWS
WITH AMB. CRUMPTON

REF: USUN 1436


1. (SBU) BEGIN SUMMARY: In meetings on the margins of the
UN General Assembly, Counterterrorism Coordinator Ambassador
Crumpton exchanged views on how to invigorate the UN's
counterterrorism efforts with Ambassador Ellen Loj, Danish
PermRep and Chairman of the UN Security Council's
Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC); Ambassador Cesar Mayoral,
Argentine PermRep and Chairman of the UN Security Council's
1267 Committee; and Ambassador Johan Verbeke, Belgian
PermRep. Loj, who leaves the Council at the end of December,
expressed frustration that the CTC had not yet achieved
concrete results in enhancing states' implementation of UNSCR
1373 and asked for a clearer sense of USG objectives for the
committee. Verbeke, who will join the Council in January,
said Belgium did not have the resources available to chair
the CTC but promised to consult again with the Foreign
Minister. He also sought U.S. assistance for Belgium's
request that the 1267 Committee de-list Nabil Sayadi and
Patricia Vinck. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) At a September 22 meeting with Danish PermRep and
CTC Chairman Loj, Ambassador Crumpton thanked Ambassador Loj
for her leadership, and the two discussed the CTC's future.
Among other things, they agreed on the need for a strong
successor.


3. (SBU) Ambassador Loj expressed frustration that states'
commitment to UNSCR 1373 has dwindled since 2001 and that the
CTC has not accomplished concrete results. In order to
convince states to commit more resources to combating
terrorism, the CTC must show that it makes a difference, she
argued. Doing so requires positive engagement. She noted
that most UNSC resolutions are focused on sanctions, whereas
UNSCR 1373 focuses on positive engagement. The CTC should be
seen as a positive force to "monitor" implementation of 1373,
not to "evaluate" or "judge" their compliance, she said. As
an example of states' suspicions of the CTC, she complained
that states often do not welcome CTED teams because they see
visits of the Counter-Terrorism Committee's Executive
Directorate (CTED) as punitive. The CTC must help states
understand that they should welcome a CTED visit as an
opportunity for gaining assistance in implementing UNSCR 1373
and for demonstrating what states have done to implement the
resolution. The CTC should use CTED's visits to develop
contacts and relationships with member states, promoting
positive interaction and greater effectiveness in a way that
letter writing and reporting cannot. In that vein,
Ambassador Loj also expressed concern that the CTC was
turning into a "paper mill," overly focused on writing
letters back and forth to states.


4. (SBU) In particular, Ambassador Loj expressed frustration
that she did not have a clear view of the USG's goals for the
CTC and cited the appeal she made at her July 28 meeting with
Ambassadors Bolton, Wolff, and Sanders (reftel). She
stressed the need for her as Chairman to understand the
direction that the U.S., the UK, and France want to pursue in
the CTC and the UN. Ambassador Crumpton promised to follow
up to give her a better sense of the USG's priorities.


5. (SBU) Ambassador Crumpton emphasized the importance of
using economic power to replace terrorist safe havens through
positive influences and economic development and suggested
the CTC should coordinate its work more closely with that of
the UN Development Program or other similar mechanisms.
Ambassador Loj acknowledged the CTC's efforts to form those
links, but said the development community resists having
their work tied into counterterrorism. Ambassador DeVries
faces this same challenge with the EU, she said. Ambassador
Loj said that the CTC first must have "positive" discussion
with member states to convince them to request assistance to
close the gaps in their implementation of UNSCR 1373. The
CTC has looked to the G-8's Counter-Terrorism Action Group
(CTAG) to meet needs, but Ambassador Loj said CTAG either
needs to do a better job of delivering assistance or the CTC
needs to look to other donors.


6. (SBU) In response to Ambassador Crumpton's question,
Ambassador Loj suggested that the United States and Denmark,
including through the CTC, should focus on enhancing
counterterrorism efforts in three countries: the
Philippines, Afghanistan, and Kenya. (Note: CTED visited
Kenya in May 2005 and visited the Philippines in September
2006.) Crumpton noted the particular urgency of Afghanistan
and commented that partners in the Gulf (aside from the
United Arab Emirates) had done little to help Afghanistan,
and expressed concern that the situation will only get worse


with the money from this year's poppy crop. Ambassador
Crumpton agreed to follow up with Ambassador Neuman and
Ambassador Ranneberger to solicit their views on CTED work in
Afghanistan and Kenya.


7. (SBU) On September 20, Belgian PermRep Johan Verbeke
shared Belgium's views on the UN's counterterrorism efforts
with Ambassador Crumpton, calling the 1267 Committee and the
CTC the most concrete and promising of those initiatives.
Ambassador Verbeke called the UN General Assembly's recent
debate over the UN comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy
"more form than substance" and said continuing the
negotiations on the Comprehensive Convention on International
Terrorism would not necessarily be productive. While
emphasizing that Belgium wants to keep a low profile in
discussing its plans for joining the Security Council, he
said Belgium plans to assume "full responsibility" in these
committees. Although he stressed Belgium's commitment to the
CTC, Belgium does not have the resources to devote to
chairing the CTC, which requires allocating two full-time
employees to the issue, he said. Ambassador Crumpton
questioned Belgium's commitment to countering terrorism,
saying that both Italy and Belgium had an opportunity to
assert leadership on counterterrorism by chairing the CTC.
In response, Ambassador Verbeke agreed to raise the issue
again with Brussels.


8. (SBU) Comment: The Italian Mission's officer who handles
terrorism has told USUN's deputy legal officer that Italy,
which is the other European state joining the Council in
2007, is still considering whether it wants to assume the CTC
chairmanship. Italy, like Belgium, has expressed
reservations about the need to devote two full-time staff
members to the CTC. Both Italy and Belgium are basing their
assessment of resource needs on the Danish example; Denmark
has devoted more than two full-time staff members to the CTC
during its Council tenure. Although Denmark's commitment has
been significant, its hands-on approach has led to friction
with CTED, which has resisted what it sees as Danish efforts
to micro-manage them. Since one of the key reasons for
funding CTED with more than 30 staff members was to alleviate
the burden on the CTC members, it might not be necessary for
the next chairman's delegation to devote as many of his or
her own staff to managing CTED and the CTC's work. End
Comment.


9. (SBU) At the end of the meeting, Ambassador Verbeke asked
for U.S. assistance in reviewing Belgium's request for the
1267 Committee to de-list Nabil Sayadi and Patricia Vinck.
He explained that the Belgian government had presented Sayadi
and Vinck's names to the Committee for listing but after a
judicial review, the government concluded that the grounds on
which it sought their listing "were not sound." Ambassador
Verbeke noted that strong press and public interest in
Belgium in the Sayadi/Vinck matter. Ambassador Crumpton
agreed to follow up on the matter. (Note: Following the
meeting, USUN's 1267 expert met with the Belgian Mission to
discuss the Sayadi/Vinck matter. We emphasized the
distinction between a criminal process, which relies on one
set of evidentiary standards, and a sanctions process, which
is political rather than judicial in nature, and relies on
another set of criteria. We also reiterated our suggestion
that Sayadi/Vinck consider petitioning OFAC directly. The
Belgian Mission agreed with our suggestion and pledged to
recommend it to Brussels. End Note.)


10. (SBU) Ambassador Verbeke then offered broader views on
the 1267 Committee's de-listing process. He acknowledged
that European states take a more "legalistic" approach to the
1267 sanctions regime and that such an approach might not be
appropriate, but said European public opinion demanded it.
Ambassador Verbeke said the credibility of the 1267 sanctions
regime will be enhanced if the Committee allows listed
individuals the opportunity to get off the list, and said
proceeding with a few de-listings would send "an important
signal." Ambassador Crumpton emphasized that the sanctions
regime should aim to change behavior and said the Committee
needs to be more dynamic in terms of de-listing.


11. (SBU) On September 22, Ambassador Crumpton met with the
chairman of the 1267 Committee on al-Qaida and the Taliban,
Argentina's PermRep Cesar Mayoral. Ambassador Crumpton
thanked Chairman Mayoral for his leadership and noted the
committee's progress freezing terrorist assets. Mayoral will
be making another trip overseas in early November to promote
implementation of the sanctions, and Ambassador Crumpton
expressed support for the idea of including a visit to South
Africa.




12. (SBU) Chairman Mayoral asked for Ambassador Crumpton's
assistance to extend the contracts of the 1267 Monitoring
Team. Ambassador Crumpton agreed to do what he could to
advance this goal. They also discussed the value of the
meetings between the Monitoring Team and the heads of
regional intel and security services. The last report
emphasized the growing presence of al-Qaida in the Sahel and
Sahara region, and they exchanged views on what can be done
to counter it. Ambassador Crumpton briefed Mayoral on his
recent discussions with Interpol Secretary General Ron Noble
and expressed interest in seeing how Interpol and the 1267
Sanctions Committee could improve their effectiveness through
information sharing.
BOLTON