U.S.-EU Drugs Troika Advances Counternarcotics Cooperation

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRUSSELS 001733 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCOR KCRM PGOV KCOR VXY EUN ZL SUBJECT: U.S.-EU Drugs Troika Advances Counternarcotics Cooperation in West Africa ¶1. (SBU) Summary: INL Assistant Secretary David T. Johnson led the U.S. delegation (USDEL) to the U.S.-EU Informal Drugs Troika meeting on December 1, 2009 in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting focused primarily on U.S.-EU cooperation in combating West African drug trafficking, and produced the following four deliverables: (1) U.S. and EU technical experts will discuss curriculum development for their regional law enforcement training centers in West Africa via digital video conference o/a January 2010 under the incoming Spanish European Commission (EC) presidency; (2) prior to that, the U.S. will take the lead in coordinating U.S. and EU assistance efforts by combining matrices detailing all U.S. and EU criminal justice sector program assistance and highlighting gaps and duplication; (3) U.S. and EU consular and legal experts will meet to explore cooperation on visa denial for drug traffickers and corrupt officials; and (4) the U.S. and EU will take the lead in efforts to reform the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) data collection process at the March 2010 Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). A/S Johnson met separately with Monique Pariat, Director of General Affairs for the Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom, and Security at the European Commission (EC) to discuss ongoing assistance efforts in the Western Balkans, and conducted broadcast interviews with Radio France International and Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. End Summary. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - West Africa: Trends, Intel Sharing, and Training - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (U) The Swedish EC President chaired the recent U.S.-EU Drugs Troika meeting in Brussels, which focused primarily on U.S.-EU cooperation in combating West African drug trafficking. Europol opened the meeting with a brief overview of the current and emerging threats in West Africa. Europol reports increasing use of alternative drug trafficking transit routes in the region, including traffickers traveling up the East African coastline and into Europe via Black Sea and Balkans routes, as well as transiting northward from West Africa across the Sahara and into Europe via North African countries such as Morocco. Consequently, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece are all seeing increased seizures. Europol believes this balloon effect is due to increased law enforcement pressure in West Africa that is forcing traffickers to identify alternate routes to European markets. ¶3. (U) Next, the U.S. and EU exchanged information on their respective regional training centers - a French-led EU training center planned for the Sahel and a U.S.-led training center planned for either Ghana or Senegal. (Note: the location of the U.S. training center was still to be confirmed at the time of the meeting. In the meantime, the Department has decided to locate the center in Ghana. End Note.) The U.S. expressed its desire to coordinate closely with European counterparts on course development and curriculum planning to avoid what A/S Johnson called a "piecemeal approach that does not really build institutional capacity." The EU agreed and encouraged a comprehensive approach to long-term institutional capacity building that incorporates the work of existing training institutions and fits into other regional counternarcotics initiatives, like the ECOWAS Action Plan. Both sides agreed that further working-level coordination on curriculum development for the new training centers should be done via digital video conference (DVC) o/a January 2010 under the new Spanish EU presidency. Both sides also expressed interest in conducting a pilot, test-bed training program with one particular country, an idea that INL will explore further in the DVC. ¶4. (SBU) Discussions on two EU-led intelligence-sharing platforms in Ghana and Senegal emphasized the need to develop standard operating procedures and protocols that facilitate information sharing between EU member states and USG counterparts in INL, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),and DOD's Africa Command (AFRICOM). DEA is actively participating in the Ghana platform and maintains a full-time USG presence there. DEA also plans to participate in the Senegal platform via electronic and telephone communication from its regional headquarters in Paris and from Washington. USDEL clarified USG interagency involvement in these platforms by explaining the distinct roles that INL, DEA, and AFRICOM play in counternarcotics assistance efforts in West Africa. ¶5. (U) In an October 14 DVC, EU and USG/INL counterparts agreed to exchange comprehensive program planning matrices outlining all counternarcotics and criminal justice sector reform programs in West African countries. INL exchanged matrices with the EU prior to the BRUSSELS 00001733 002 OF 004 December 1 U.S.-EU Drugs Troika meeting, and followed up this exchange with further discussion of ways to eliminate perceived overlap and duplication in programs and streamline the interagency coordination process. The EU proposed agreeing on uniform language to make the matrices more user-friendly and creating a joint matrix that would integrate U.S. and EU programs into one cohesive chart. Both sides agreed to carry out these proposals in advance of the next DVC. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Spain Supports Latin America - West Africa Cooperation - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶6. (SBU) A representative from Spain briefed the group on the EC/UNODC "Cooperation and Intelligence between the government agencies against cocaine trafficking from Latin America to West Africa" (COLACAO) project. COLACAO aims to foster increased information exchange among police, law enforcement, and national institutions. The project created a Secure Information Exchange System (SIES) for multiregional information exchange that is available in four languages and 14 countries. SIES is a secure email exchange system that enables EU liaisons in Latin America to communicate with liaisons in West Africa and Europe. The Spanish representative urged USG (and particularly DEA) participation in the EU-led project, and USDEL said it would study the program further and consider opportunities for U.S. engagement. (Note: USEU reports that this initiative has not gained much traction, and questions its longevity. There is also concern for duplication, as DEA currently maintains viable communications in the West Africa region and would require additional information on the Spanish project to avoid duplication of existing methods of communication. USEU is in contact with EUROPOL for further clarification on this project. End note.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - France to Lead Dublin Group Reform Effort - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶7. (SBU) As the current chair of the central Dublin Group (DG),the GOF plans to propose comprehensive reforms to the Dublin Group counternarcotics coordinating mechanism in advance of the next meeting, scheduled for January 19, 2010 in Brussels. The GOF will distribute a non-paper to DG points of contact proposing ways to improve coordination and strategic analysis at the central level, increase communication among DG representatives, and strengthen the role of the local level "mini-Dublin Groups" in the field. France believes the DG is a flexible, useful framework for information sharing and donor-IO coordination that could better support implementation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Action Plan for West Africa. INL suggested that the central level DG has outlived its usefulness, but supported local level DGs as a valuable tool to facilitate coordination in the field. A/S Johnson suggested the reformed central DG focus on West Africa as a pilot and push as much working level coordination down to the mini-Dublin Groups as possible. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - U.S. - EU to Explore Cooperation on Visa Denial - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶8. (SBU) USDEL proposed visa denial as an effetive tool for targeting drug traffickers and orrupt officials in West Africa. A/S Johnson argued that strengthened political will and powerful sanctions would hit drug traffickers where it hurts and bolster international capacity building efforts in West Africa. EU members posed several questions about how such a visa denial program would work and which criteria would be applied to visa denial decisions, and cited many challenges to operationalizing such a program on an EU-wide level. Despite these issues, the EC's Carel Edwards saw no reason not to continue exploring possibilities for U.S. and EU cooperation on visa denial. At Edwards' suggestion, both sides agreed to convene a meeting of legal, consular, and anti-corruption experts to discuss the matter further. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Other Business: 53rd CND, Latin America, Russia - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶9. (U) The EU called for UNODC to place a greater emphasis on demand BRUSSELS 00001733 003 OF 004 reduction activities and to seek a more balanced approach between supply reduction and demand reduction in its programming. The EU cited of lack of funding for the UNODC Demand Reduction Office Director position (currently held by Gilberto Gerra) as an example of the low priority placed on demand reduction activities within UNODC. USDEL offered to follow up on this funding issue with UNODC, but noted that as a donor-driven organization, the 'balance' likely reflects the desires of the donor community as expressed through their contributions to the UNODC. The U.S. and EU each identified points of contact for negotiating a draft CND resolution on drug demand reduction and agreed to work together to lead data collection reform efforts in UNODC. The EU envisages a unified, simple, efficient approach to data collection that incorporates survey questions on demand reduction and simplifies reporting requirements for member states. ¶10. (SBU) The EC's Bolivia Desk Officer reported delays in completion of the EC-funded "licit" coca study in Bolivia. Although a survey of household consumption was originally scheduled to conclude in January 2010, it is now scheduled to conclude by the end of the calendar year. Surveys on productivity and cultivation are also delayed until late 2010. The Bolivia desk officer did not anticipate any major changes in drug policy under the newly re-elected Morales administration. A/S Johnson characterized the U.S.-Bolivia relationship on counternarcotics efforts as a "challenging relationship" that could be better, and said the U.S. is still working to figure out its next steps in Bolivia. The EU expressed its desire to increase funding to Bolivia, but said it could not provide commensurate general purpose funds to support additional programming at the UNODC and asked the USG to provide these funds. USDEL suggested that the EC consider voluntarily paying the full 13.5 percent in program administration costs that every other state donor pays UNODC to help lessen the fiscal pressure on the UNODC. (Note: the EC currently pays a discounted 8.5 percent program administration fee, while other state donors including the USG pay the full 13.5 percent. End Note.) The EC offered to look into this proposal. ¶11. (SBU) USG and EU officials report receiving mixed signals from Russia regarding Russia's commitment to reducing drug use within its borders. The EU is concerned with rising heroin use and rising HIV infection rates in Russia, and is "concerned with Russia's lahese issues. While theOffice of National Dr` positive progress in r`lateral meetings on counte JohnsMonique Pariat, Director the Directorate-GenerQion in the Western Balkans. Pariat said the EU places great importace on Western Balkans development and on U.S.QEU cooperation in the region. She describQd various tools the EU is using to incentivize 3tates to comply with EU conditions and to advance the accession process to EU membership, suQh as visa liberalization. Pariat said the EUQcontinues to face migration issues, particulQrly migration from Kosovo, and that much remains to be done in the region. She said the EC is always open to providing further assistance to Balkans states, and welcomes further USG assistance. A/S Johnson discussed expanding the reach of the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest to areas further south and east and increasing U.S.-EU cooperation in training prosecutors in Serbia. Both sides agreed there was room for further cooperation in combating organized crime and corruption in the region. The U.S. proposed a joint U.S.-EU site visit to the ILEA Budapest to review the current curriculum and courses with an eye towards deconflicting assistance efforts and coordinating the thematic focuses of our various USG and EU training programs. Pariat responded enthusiastically to this proposal and USEU plans to follow up directly with Pariat's office. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BRUSSELS 00001733 004 OF 004 Comment: New Meeting Format Well-Received, Productive - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶13. (U) Both delegations were pleased with the new format for the meeting, which focused on a single issue of common concern to both the U.S. and the EU, in this case drug trafficking in West Africa. It was agreed to apply this same format to the next meeting in June, though a topic has not yet been agreed upon. End Comment. MURRAY