AMBASSADOR DAILEY MEETS WITH UN COUNTERTERRORISM

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000839 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2017 TAGS: PREL PTER UNSC UNGA SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DAILEY MEETS WITH UN COUNTERTERRORISM LEADERSHIP Classified By: Carolyn Willson, Minister Counselor, for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). ¶1. (C) Begin summary and introduction: On September 28, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism Dell Dailey met with the United Nations' Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force Director Robert Orr; Counter Terrorism Committee Chair Amb. Arias; UNSCR 1267 Committee Chair Amb. Verbeke, and 1267 Committee Monitoring Team Chair Richard Barrett to discuss U.S. counterterrorism priorities for the UN. Orr thanked the U.S. for funding working groups focused on combating radicalization and improving critical infrastructure protection; Arias questioned why the United States is resistant to UN efforts to condemn the incitement of terrorist acts; and Verbeke outlined his concerns and recommendations for ensuring that UN terrorist sanctions maintain political legitimacy. End summary and introduction. UN Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force ¶2. (C) UN Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) Assistant Secretary General Robert Orr thanked U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism Dell Dailey for U.S. funding of two of the nine working groups proposed to implement the September 2006 UN General Assembly's Global Counter Terrorism Strategy. The Bureau of International Organization Affairs has pledged contributions totaling over $400,000 to go toward funding working groups on radicalization and the protection of vulnerable targets (critical infrastructure),which will fund staffing, workshops and travel expenses. S/CT is also in the process of contributing funds for the vulnerable targets working group. Orr said the United States moved the quickest of any country, demonstrating a vote of confidence for the proposals and answering some countries' concerns regarding U.S. support for implementing UN General Assembly, and not just bilateral or UN Security Council, counterterrorism priorities. Orr said he still needed donors for all of the remaining working groups, although countries have expressed interest in supporting about half of the groups including human rights and victims of terrorism. ¶3. (C) Dailey expressed the need for all UN members, including the U.S., to mainstream counterterrorism efforts and to focus on the underlying conditions that terrorists exploit, noting that all parts of the UN, such as UNESCO and UNDP have an important role to play in addressing counterterrorism objectives. Orr said that in the past six months the UN General Assembly has shown the "opposite of backsliding" on counterterrorism. He said the UN's Global CT Strategy was a major win, proving the General Assembly's, and especially the Non-Aligned Movement's, broad support for the first political coalition for counterterrorism. He acknowledged useful regional developments by ASEAN, the African Union, and the Council of Europe for utilizing the Strategy, but noted the need for greater public awareness. ¶4. (C) Dailey shared that in his meeting with the Foreign Ministers of the Arab Maghreb Union, the five North African countries clamored for more U.S. support and cooperation on counterterrorism. Orr noted Algeria's role as a key swing voter in the UN and advised that Algeria continues to fear that it could lose international support for its counterterrorism efforts, as it did in 1993. Orr said that Algeria's influence is greater in the UN than on the international stage; he added that Morocco's influence is the opposite, making any efforts to address Algeria and Morocco together useful. Orr also noted Algeria's disproportionate interest in its African Union Counterterrorism Center located in Algiers and asked on behalf of Algeria for U.S. support of this regional center. Dailey relayed U.S. policy toward supporting all regional CT centers and said he would make sure to support this center publicly in his outreach efforts. UN Security Council Resolution 1373's Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC) ¶5. (C) When questioned by Dailey, Panamanian Ambassador to the UN and CTC Chairman Ricardo Arias said he was "not sure" there is any overlap in UN efforts to address counterterrorism. Arias explained that the CTC should remain focused on policy and the UNSCR 1267 Committee should remain focused on sanctions. Arias indicated he was not planning to fulfill his second year as CTC Chairman and noted his successor must be someone who wants the position, is neutral, fair-balanced, and has the capacity to deal with experts. Arias suggested Italy, Costa Rica or Belgium as good possibilities and advised that the next Chairman should be selected ahead of time to avoid any gaps. Because the meeting took place prior to official announcement of Australian Amb. Mike Smith's appointment as the new head of the Counter Terrorism Committee's Executive Directorate (CTED),Arias said that he heard Russia had stalled the announcement because it wanted to ensure that the current Deputy Executive Director Sergey Karev would remain in his position. He noted the necessity of resolving the CTED appointment quickly. Arias said he always looks for U.S. assistance and guidance and asked why the United States is so resistant to advance implementation of UNSCR 1624, which concerns incitement of terrorist acts. UN Security Council Resolution 1267 Committee ¶6. (C) Dailey thanked Belgian Ambassador to the UN and Chairman of the UNSCR 1267 Committee Johan Verbeke for his strong and skillful leadership and welcomed suggestions on how to ensure other countries, aside from the United States, propose new listings of individuals and entities that are associated with Usama bin Laden, al-Qaida, or the Taliban. Verbeke outlined his two main concerns regarding ensuring the success of 1267 sanctions. First, Verbeke said that Russia's resistance to delisting Taliban individuals is harming the system's credibility and legitimacy, making countries with legitimate cases no longer amenable to coming forward because they view the process as a "blacklist." Second, Verbeke stated that the legitimacy of procedures, which has improved since UNSCR 1735 outlined the need to update the Taliban portion of the Consolidated List, must ensure due process rather than states' capricious wishes. ¶7. (C) Verbeke stated that in order for countries to remain confident of the legitimacy of the 1267 Committee's al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions lists, 3-5 delistings must be finalized in the next 5-6 months. In addition, Verbeke said that the implementation of measures to freeze assets, deny travel and embargo arms of listed individuals and entities is essential, but sensitive, because it involves finger pointing. Verbeke referred to a recent meeting with Kenya, whose representatives retorted that Kenya respects the rule of law, but questioned the legitimacy of the 1267 sanctions, saying they need a court order to impose such sanctions. Verbeke said that this exercise showed that countries' compliance is being hampered by lack of capacity and a reluctance to implement sanctions because of concerns regarding legality and legitimacy. Verbeke also referenced Qatar's flair for drama as hampering new listings or delistings from moving forward. ¶8. (C) UNSCR 1267 Monitoring Team Chair Richard Barrett said that the 1267 sanctions are a potentially powerful tool that provide the only operational mechanism for defining terrorism in the United Nations. However, he added that there is a problem with the limited profile of 1267's work, and said we should endeavor to get the Iranians more interested in the 1267 process (he thinks engaging with the Iranians could yield new al-Qa'ida listings) and should focus more on the listing of Taliban drug offenders. Barrett said that most governments see problems with the Al-Qaida and recognize the difficulties the Taliban list causes for Afghanistan's reconciliation efforts. Barrett reiterated the need for Russian support to allow for the delisting of Taliban names, even if the majority of those names have "Russian blood on their hands." Dailey responded that he would ensure to include his support for UN 1267 sanctions in his media outreach and public diplomacy efforts. Dailey also told Barrett that the U.S. supports the idea of enhanced regional intelligence interaction and sharing of information. ¶9. (C) Barrett added that he will personally lead the CTITF's radicalization working group and believed that Sweden would be funding the working group focused on ensuring human rights while countering terrorism. Barrett said he was also aware of UNESCO and Southeast Asia's interest in addressing terrorist use of the Internet by using measures such as repentant terrorists providing broadcast messages at madrassas with a UNESCO label about the human suffering and pain caused by terrorism. ¶10. (U) This cable has been cleared by Amb. Dailey. KHALILZAD