1540: NAM SECURITY COUNCIL PERMREPS CONSOLIDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000345 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2018 TAGS: PREL AORC KPAO PTER UNSC KNNP SUBJECT: 1540: NAM SECURITY COUNCIL PERMREPS CONSOLIDATE POSITION ON MANDATE RENEWAL RESOLUTION REF: A. USUN 326 ¶B. USUN 323 ¶C. USUN 314 ¶D. USUN 303 ¶E. USUN 257 ¶F. PRETORIA 770 ¶G. HANOI 423 ¶H. JAKARTA 742 Classified By: Legal Minister Counselor Carolyn L. Willson, for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) USUN has learned that the PermReps of Non-Aligned Movement states on the Security Council (Indonesia, Panama, South Africa, Libya, Burkina Faso, and Vietnam) have agreed to support only a two-year renewal of the mandate of the Security Council Committee established by resolution 1540 (2004),although they could accept language to expand the Committee's focus on technical assistance. USUN suspects that South Africa and Indonesia have swayed the NAM Council members to accept their argument that a longer-term mandate is inappropriate because the 1540 Committee originally was established as a stop-gap measure and in their view should not be permitted to become a part of the Security Council's permanent architecture. ¶2. (SBU) COMMENT: Based on USUN's extensive consultations with NAM delegations on the Security Council, it appears that, although many NAM delegations seem persuaded by the U.S. explanation that a five-year renewal will better equip the Committee to carry out effective outreach efforts and to facilitate the delivery of technical assistance (among other things),they will need more time to change the principled opposition to a longer-term mandate renewal which their ambassadors endorsed. END COMMENT. Khalilzad