IRELAND FIRMLY COMMITTED TO OSLO PROCESS BAN ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBLIN 000033

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/07/2018
TAGS: MOPS PARM PREL EI
SUBJECT: IRELAND FIRMLY COMMITTED TO OSLO PROCESS BAN ON
CLUSTER MUNITIONS

REF: STATE 167308

Classified By: Political/Economic Section Chief Theodore S. Pierce for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. Ireland, one of the founding members of the
Oslo Process, stands firm on its support for the Oslo Process
ban on cluster munitions despite potential interoperability
difficulties. Ireland sees the Oslo Process as consistent
with its strong humanitarian record and it is unlikely to
budge from its position. End summary.


2. (C) Ireland fully supports the proposed text of the Oslo
Process and is willing to accept any potential
interoperability difficulties that may result, according to
Nicholas Twist, Department of Foreign Affairs Deputy
Director, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, to whom POLOFF
delivered reftel demarche and non-papers on January 3.
Ireland anticipates that the interoperability problems will
become less of an issue as more and more countries sign on to
the Oslo Process, Twist said, using the Ottawa Convention on
land mines as an example of how countries slowly adopted an
agreement and banned land mines "when they were ready."
Twist said that Ireland expects the ban on cluster munitions
to progress in the same fashion and that, eventually, most
countries will sign on to the Oslo Process.


3. (C) POLOFF emphasized the USG's shared humanitarian
concerns and support for negotiations on cluster munitions
within the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW)
framework. Twist acknowledged the U.S. position and
mentioned that the Russian political attache had also met
recently with Twist's office to discuss the same issue.
While the CCW has its uses, Twist agreed, the CCW framework
was not conducive to creating a ban on cluster munitions,
which was the same information he gave the Russians, he added.


4. (C) Twist highlighted the growing support for the Oslo
Process and said he expected that the final wording of the
text would be agreed upon during the two-week conference that
Ireland will host in Dublin in May 2008. He anticipated that
the final text would be ready for the scheduled Oslo Process
signing ceremony in Oslo in the Fall.


5. (C) Comment: Given Ireland's leading roll as one of the
founding members of the Oslo Process, Twist's response to the
demarche was unsurprising. Ireland is not a member of NATO,
although it is a participant in the Partnership for Peace
program. Its small roll in overseas military operations,
limited to UN humanitarian efforts, make it likely that
potential interoperability problems will not affect it
directly. Ireland sees the Oslo Process as consistent with
its strong humanitarian record and it is unlikely to budge
from its position. End comment.
FOLEY