CLUSTER MUNITIONS: AUSTRALIA COMMENTS ON OSLO

C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 000090 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR PM/WRA K. BAKER AND EAP/ANP E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2018 TAGS: PARM MOPS PREL AS SUBJECT: CLUSTER MUNITIONS: AUSTRALIA COMMENTS ON OSLO PROCESS REF: A. 2007 CANBERRA 1763 (NOTAL) ¶B. 2007 STATE 167308 (NOTAL) Classified By: Political Counselor James F.Cole for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C/NF) Gerry McGuire, Director, Arms Control and Counter-Proliferation Branch at DFAT, told Poloff on January 30 he was not sanguine that much progress would be achieved at the upcoming Oslo meeting in New Zealand. Discussions to date have not produced any changes in language on Australia's 3 red line items: interoperability, definitions that exclude sensor-fused weapons, or retention of legacy weapons for development and training purposes. ¶2. (C/NF) McGuire indicated that Australia will remain involved in the Oslo Process at least through the Wellington meeting, so, if negotiations do not resolve their red line issues, the GOA can assert it made a best and good faith effort. Australia's participation at Wellington also is important because of its close relationship with New Zealand, he added. Dr. Ada Cheung, Executive Director, Arms Control and Counter-Proliferation Branch, suggested separately that Australia will withdraw after Wellington if the core group successfully changes the declaration language to ban all cluster munitions. She also advised that New Zealand is working very hard to keep the process and participants on track toward an outcome with useful controls. Dr. Cheung reiterated that the ideological position of many participants may prevent achieving a functional result. ¶3. (C/NF) Mr. McGuire observed that failure in the Oslo Process to develop viable control and use policies for cluster munitions puts additional pressure on the concurrent UN Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings to produce solid results. He noted that the CCW meetings, however, continue to suffer from Russian stonewalling. ¶4. (C/NF) McGuire shared with Poloff rumors that some smaller countries, such as Poland, will likely pull out of the Oslo Process after Wellington because of their strong relationships with the U.S. and their need for interoperability with U.S. forces. Dr. Cheung stated that those withdrawing would be NATO members. MCCALLUM