NORWAY UNYEILDING ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L OSLO 000119

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS TO PM/WRA KATHERINE BAKER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2018
TAGS: MOPS PARM PREL NATO UN NO
SUBJECT: NORWAY UNYEILDING ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS

REF: STATE 13614

Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Kristen Bauer
for reasons 1.4 b and d


1. (C) Norway continues to assert that the Oslo Process to
ban cluster munitions will be a success and is not swayed by
arguments over interoperability. The GON is openly modeling
the Oslo Process on the Ottawa Land Mine Treaty and expects
that the results will be similar, both in terms of forcing
nations to sign or be tarred as international pariahs and
that any interoperability concerns will be worked out when a
treaty is signed with little or no effect on NATO or other
coalition activities. The recent Wellington conference did
nothing to change the basic GON approach or position, despite
the clear fact that many significant members of the Oslo
Process have serious concerns over interoperability. Recent
progress in the CCW is welcomed by the GON but does not
change their base skepticism of the CCW as unlikely to result
in a meaningful ban on harmful cluster munitions.

Ambassador demarche rebuffed
--------------

2. (C) During a lunch with MFA State Secretary Raymond
Johansen on February 11, Ambassador Whitney presented USG
concerns about the direction of the Oslo Process. Repeating
the GON,s official position, Johansen said that Norway does
not want a total ban but is looking to focus on specific
devices that have unacceptable consequences. Johansen was
pleased at the progress on cluster munitions in the CCW and
sees the Oslo Process and the CCW as complementary. He
dismissed our interoperability concerns, saying that these
can be got around through Rules of Engagement and other
systems developed after the Ottawa landmine treaty and
similar agreements. Comment: Johansen, who has formal
oversight of the cluster munitions process, did not appear to
have detailed information on the process or on the latest
developments. End Comment

MFA also not convinced
--------------

3. (C) Working level MFA contacts on the Cluster Munitions
Task Force, (led by the MFA but including the Norwegian MOD,
NGOs and university professors),who attended the Wellington
meeting, are even more positive about the direction the Oslo
Process is taking and are equally dismissive of
interoperability concerns. The MFA is convinced that the
large number of supporting nations will create such a strong
momentum that it will become internationally unacceptable to
use cluster munitions. The MFA views definitions as the
single most difficult area left to negotiate at Dublin and
indicated that in their view cluster munitions with the
appropriate sensor fusing, and which are not area targeted,
would not be included in the ban.


4. (C) On interoperability, the MFA believes that rules of
engagement can be developed to answer any interoperability
concerns and that even with the current treaty text, NATO or
coalition efforts will not be adversely affected. In the
MFA,s view, concerns over interoperability presented by the
&like-minded group8 at the Wellington meetings were taken
into consideration by their adoption into the Compendium
Annex. The MFA also believes that despite being very vocal,
the like- inded states, actions in Wellington were not all
that divergent from the consensus. They stated that due to
&aggressive8 tactics on the part of like-minded countries
an alternate group of affected states formed (including Latin
American, African and Asian countries) which will push for a
total ban and strong restrictions on proliferation.

Explaining Away the Delay in Responding to the U.S. Paper on
Interoperability
--------------

4. (C) The MFA blames the long delay in responding to a U.S.
paper on interoperability on the Ministry of Defense and
professed to be surprised by our demarche pointing out the
failure to respond. The MFA now say that they were not fully
aware of the need to formally respond, despite statements to
the contrary late last year. (Since we have been regularly
raising the matter since late December 2007, this is
particularly vexing). MOD contacts say that a draft was
prepared in December but was not acceptable and thus needed
to be substantially revised. MOD now states that it has
finished the paper and delivered it to the MFA where it is
now in the Legal Department for review. Despite repeated
requests we still do not have the Norwegian paper.

(C) Negative Influence of Steffen Kongstad
--------------

5. (C) We suspect that at least part of the reason for the
delay is the influence of the head of the Cluster Munitions
task force, Steffen Kongstad. He is a Deputy Director in the
MFA,s Humanitarian Section and has long experience in the
areas of landmines and other humanitarian efforts to ban
weapon systems. He is a very committed, strong personality,
and possesses a dogmatic inflexibility in pursuing his
objectives. He is known to be brusk, dismissive of alternate
opinions and at time rude in his treatment of those who may
disagree or wish to discuss possible compromises. His
behavior during the visit of DAS Richard Kidd in the fall of
2007 was unprofessional. We heard from our British
colleagues that Kongstad,s behavior towards the UK
representative in Wellington was so bad that the British
Ambassador in Oslo was called and asked to approach the MFA
to ask them to tell Kongstad to be more cooperative during
the Wellington meeting.

CCW Efforts Dismissed
--------------

6. (C) The MFA also dismisses the CCW as ineffective, even
with the recent progress, and felt the January meetings of
the CCW did not indicate any movement which would show
meaningful progress on addressing the humanitarian need. The
GON will continue to participate at CCW meetings but has no
expectations of any progress.

Norway Disagrees with U.S. Points on Humanitarian Impact of CM
--------------

7. (C) The MFA also disputes the points made by reftel on the
humanitarian impact of cluster munitions, claiming that
reports from the field indicate that cluster munitions (along
with anti-vehicle mines) are a major humanitarian issue and
pose the greatest threat to the average civilian. Laos,
Vietnam, Sudan, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iraq were mentioned
as areas under the greatest threat of civilian impact.
(Note: Given the integral role NGOs play in the GON,s
efforts to ban cluster munitions, we suspect that the MFA is
taking NGO reports and numbers at face value without
independent verification.)

Norway Determined to Achieve Ban
--------------

8. (C) Comment: The GON seems determined to pursue a treaty
at the Dublin meetings which, despite its denials, will
closely resemble a total ban on cluster munitions. The
strong personality of Steffen Kongstad and the integral
involvement of NGOs in the GON effort in this issue have
shaped the GON effort and have shut off all receptiveness to
counter-arguments from the U.S., other allies or from members
in the MOD who share concerns over interoperability. It
appears that absent any pressure from political leaders (who
so far have been supportive of the MFA,s efforts) Norway
will continue to be one of the most hard-core drivers of the
effort to achieve a ban on most types of cluster munitions.

WHITNEY