SPANISH ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS DEMARCHE

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000134

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR PM/WRA (KATHERINE BAKER) AND EUR/WE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2017
TAGS: MOPS PARM PREL NATO SP
SUBJECT: SPANISH ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS DEMARCHE

REF: SECSTATE 6667

Classified By: DCM HUGO LLORENS PER 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) ESTHOFF made reftel points January 24 to MFA
Disarmament Affairs Deputy Director General Ignacio Sanchez,
sharing U.S. concerns about the movement to restrict the use
of cluster munitions, inquiring about GOS intentions
vis-a-vis the February 22-3 Oslo Conference, and probing to
see if Spain might be interested in military-to-military
talks on this subject. Sanchez said that Spain had not
received an invitation to the Oslo conference and might not
attend even if Norway were to send an invitation to Madrid.
He said that at an EU meeting last week, Spain learned that
only nine EU states had received invitations from the
Norwegians.


2. (C) Turning to Spanish views on cluster munitions,
Sanchez made the following points:

-- Spain believes that cluster munitions and their use in
warfare need to be better regulated via an international
instrument. In particular, the use of such munitions against
civilians must be prohibited.

-- The ideal venue for addressing such an instrument remains
the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Spain
does not/not want cluster munitions addressed via an
Ottawa-style ad hoc negotiating forum.

-- Spain wants to make better use of the existing
multilateral disarmament framework, including the CCW. Spain
believes that addressing cluster munitions via an ad hoc
process, as appears to be the intent of the Norwegians, could
undermine the CCW. Spain understands Norway's impatience
with the results of the November 2006 Third Review Conference
of the States Parties to the CCW, but the CCW should be given
more time to effectively grapple with the cluster munitions
issue.

-- Spain fears that the prominent role given to NGOs at the
Oslo meeting could turn it into a "media circus," to the
detriment of states seeking effective regulation of cluster
munitions.

-- The Foreign Ministry defers to the Ministry of Defense on
the question of whether Spain could ever accept a ban on the
use of cluster munitions. At the moment, MOD opposes such a
ban. Spain remains a producer and exporter of such weapons
and MOD believes that the freedom to employ cluster munitions
remains an "operational necessity." MFA will not attempt to
change MOD views.

-- The U.S. should feel free to approach the Spanish
military on the possibility of a dialogue on cluster
munitions, but there might not be much to talk about, since
both sides agree on their operational utility.


3. (U) POLMILOFF also passed reftel points to MOD contacts.
We will report any substantive reaction we receive from MOD.
Aguirre