U.S.-EU Drugs Troika Advances Counternarcotics Cooperation

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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.

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West Africa: Trends, Intel Sharing, and Training
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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

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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.



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Spain Supports Latin America - West Africa Cooperation
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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.)

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France to Lead Dublin Group Reform Effort
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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.

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U.S. - EU to Explore Cooperation on Visa Denial
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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.

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Other Business: 53rd CND, Latin America, Russia
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9. (U) The EU called for UNODC to place a greater emphasis on demand

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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.

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Comment: New Meeting Format Well-Received, Productive
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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