Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ATHENS735
2009-05-07 14:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Athens
Cable title:  

GREEK VIEWS ON CONTACT GROUP ON PIRACY OFF THE COAST OF

Tags:  MARR ECON PREL PTER GR 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000735 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/05/07
TAGS: MARR ECON PREL PTER GR
SUBJECT: GREEK VIEWS ON CONTACT GROUP ON PIRACY OFF THE COAST OF
SOMALIA

REF: STATE 45157; ATHENS 551

CLASSIFIED BY: Thomas S. Miller, Acting DCM; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)

Summary
-------
C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000735

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/05/07
TAGS: MARR ECON PREL PTER GR
SUBJECT: GREEK VIEWS ON CONTACT GROUP ON PIRACY OFF THE COAST OF
SOMALIA

REF: STATE 45157; ATHENS 551

CLASSIFIED BY: Thomas S. Miller, Acting DCM; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)

Summary
--------------

1. (SBU) We delivered ref A points on U.S. goals for the urgent
meting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia
(CGPCS) to the senior Greek participant in the CGPCS, Ambassador
Tryphon Paraskevopoulos, MFA D1 (UN and International Organizations
Affairs) Director, on May 6. As on previous occasions,
Paraskevopoulos expressed strong support for the U.S. taking an
active leadership role to ensure that the CGPCS is effective in
countering the increasing threat from pirates. He agreed strongly
on the need to track pirate assets, asked for more information on
U.S. ideas for commercial ship self-protection and denying pirates
the benefits of concessions, urged improved international sharing
of information about piracy, and reiterated Greece's interest in
working with the U.S. to resolve the issue of Cyprus joining the
CGPCS. End Summary.

Ready to Support U.S. Leadership
--------------

2. (SBU) Paraskevopoulos said he looked forward to the May 29
plenary session in New York, which he expected to be an efficient
meeting because the U.S. would preside. Paraskevopoulos stressed
several times that U.S. leadership was essential to keep the CGPCS
on track, and he pledged Greek support for efforts to streamline
the group's decision making. He said Greece agreed with the U.S.
on the need for more forces off the coast of Somalia, noting that
Greece had a new naval vessel joining the EU's Operation Atalanta,
replacing the ship of the previous Greek captain who had recently
completed his rotation as tactical commander of the operation. He
said Greece would remain part of Atalanta as long as the operation
lasted, and was also planning to establish a presence in Djibouti
in addition to its officers at the command center In Northwood,
England. He added that the EU was considering expanding its area
of operations to include the Seychelles region, and this would also
require more assets.

No Need for International Tribunal
--------------


3. (SBU) Regarding detention and prosecution of pirates,
Paraskevopoulos noted that the EU was examining further support to
Kenya. He added, however, that very little information had reached
the EU or Greece from the trials or interrogation of pirates, and
he expressed hope that sharing of such information could be
improved so that it could be factored into counter-piracy efforts.
On a similar note, Paraskevopoulos called for more comprehensive
sharing of intelligence between U.S., NATO, and EU operations in
the waters off Somalia.



4. (C) Paraskevopoulos said Greek law includes a universal
jurisdiction provision that would allow Greece to try pirates
detained in international waters. He said the German DCM in Athens
had approached him in support of establishing an international or
regional tribunal to try pirates, but Paraskevopoulos had responded
that it would be much more effective for those countries with
universal jurisdiction (such as Germany and Greece) to try the
pirates in domestic courts, while encouraging other countries to
adopt universal jurisdiction laws as well. The German DCM replied
to Paraskevopoulos that Germany did not want to take responsibility
for the convicted pirates after they completed sentences in
Germany. Paraskevopoulos reiterated to us that he thought
establishing a new tribunal would be unnecessarily costly and slow,
and said Greece would stress that opinion in a CGPCS working group
meeting currently taking place in Copenhagen.

Interested in Specifics of U.S. Ideas
--------------

5. (SBU) On commercial ship self-protection, Paraskevopoulos said
it would be helpful to have a paper outlining U.S. ideas prior to
the May 29 meeting, so that the government could discuss it with
Greek shipping companies. He expressed skepticism about the idea
of armed guards on ships, noting that a corresponding escalation of
pirate tactics and weapons could lead to loss of life and
potentially to an environmental disaster. He cited as an example
one case in which pirates had unsuccessfully fired an RPG at a
tanker. Paraskevopoulos said he hoped that USG views on denying
pirates the benefits of concessions would not include an idea,
reportedly being considered by a group of Congressmen, to deny U.S.
port access to ships from companies that paid ransom. Such a
proposal, he said, would divide the U.S. from the rest of the
international community on the piracy issue precisely when they
needed to work together.

Time for CGPCS to Tackle Pirate Assets
--------------

6. (C) Paraskevopoulos expressed strong support for launching a
working group to explore tracking and freezing pirate assets, and
added that either the EU or U.S. should lead it in order to ensure
it was effective. He noted that at the previous New York plenary,
regional countries such as Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE had
objected strenuously to tracking assets, but he urged the U.S. to
push hard despite such objections. He said the Greek government
had taken action domestically to try to track assets, with the
Ministry of Economy issuing a directive to financial institutions.
As a result, the Greek government had learned that the owners of
the Saldania, a Greek-owned ship that was hijacked in January and
later released, had requested permission to export USD 2 million in
cash. He said Greek officials were now investigating where that


money went. He said the Greek government had also been trying to
gather information about private negotiations over another hijacked
Greek-owned ship, the M/V Titan.

Looking for a Way to Open the Door to Cyprus
--------------

7. (SBU) Paraskevopoulos reiterated Greece's interest in finding a
way to admit Cyprus to the CGPCS, in light of Cyprus's status as a
major maritime nation and its contributions to anti-piracy efforts,
in spite of objections from Turkey, which does not recognize Cyprus
(ref B). Paraskevopoulos provided us a copy of a diplomatic note,
dated March 13, that Cyprus had submitted to Egypt (then rotating
chair of the CGPCS) stating its intention to seek membership.
Paraskevopoulos said that although he was eager to get beyond this
issue, he agreed that the May 29 meeting was too soon to achieve a
broadly acceptable solution, and he favored addressing the matter
at the next meeting in July. Paraskevopoulos said the German
proposal for an international trust fund to help regional countries
prosecute and jail pirates might offer an avenue out of the
dispute. He asked what the U.S. would think of a provision making
contributors to the trust fund "ipso jure" members of the CGPCS.
In this way, Cyprus could contribute to the fund and join the CGPCS
without any need for CGPCS members to make a decision on Cyprus
specifically. Paraskevopoulos acknowledged that this approach
might not be acceptable to the U.S., and he reiterated his
willingness to work with us on any mechanism to resolve this issue.

SPECKHARD