SOUTH AFRICA HAS QUESTIONS ABOUT VALUE OF ARMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRETORIA 001815 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/S, IO/T, PM/DTCP E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/2017 TAGS: ETTC PARM KOMC KTIA UNDC SF SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA HAS QUESTIONS ABOUT VALUE OF ARMS TRADE TREATY REF: A. SECSTATE 063299 ¶B. KAY/WESTLING EMAIL OF 05-18-2007 Classified By: Political Counselor Raymond L. Brown. Reasons 1.4(b) an d (d). ¶1. (SBU) DepPolCouns passed reftel non-paper to DFA Deputy Director: Biological, Chemical, Missile and Arms Control Mauritz Lindeque on 16 May. Lindeque warmly welcomed the information, stating that South Africa was "all for the principle" behind the proposed ATT, and also saw it as a useful method to get African countries having no controls at all to establish them. That said, "there are our questions in our mind as to the feasibility" and "we see it as a long term process." He was sypathetic to the practical concerns raised in the U.S. non-paper, said that the SAG had submitted its own views on the proposed ATT the previous day, and provided a copy of the document (emailed to PM/DTCP and AF/S). ¶2. (C) Lindeque explained that South Africa has been under strong pressure from the UK to support this initiative. They have done so to a certain extent -- South Africa co-sponsered the UNGA resolution in the 1st Committee and, of course, voted for it. However, the SAG declined to support the UK desire to include it in the UN SALW programme and resisted heavy UK lobbying to co-sign as a regional author (Kenya did instead). He also commented that the proposed ATT was seen as "a Northern initiative", thus the SAG was not interested in being a flag bearer. Lindeque reported that the government had been "hearing a lot from civil society" about the proposed ATT, wryly noting that this was coming mostly from UK-funded NGOs, to the extent that the SAG was considering convening a seminar in June to formally seek views from interested parties. Bost