RSA GAME TO PROMOTE SAFEGUARDS AGREEMENTS, LATER; GUMBI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 UNVIE VIENNA 000551 SENSITIVE SIPDIS ISN/MNSA FOR ADAMS/SHARP; ISN/RA FOR FISHER ALSO FOR T, S/SANAC, IO/GS, ISN/NESS, INR/B PRETORIA FOR ECON-YOUNG, POL-SEIDENSTRICKER DOE FOR NA20 BAKER/LOONEY; NA24 WHITNEY/MENDELSOHN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP PREL TRGY KTIA SF XA IAEA SUBJECT: RSA GAME TO PROMOTE SAFEGUARDS AGREEMENTS, LATER; GUMBI RETURNING TO PRETORIA REF: STATE 116776 ¶1. (U) Summary: Mission reached out to South African counterparts upon receipt of reftel and will continue efforts in Vienna to collaborate in recruiting further states to sign and implement Comprehensive Safeguards Agreements with the Additional Protocol or, as appropriate, to modify existing Small Quantities Protocols or adopt the modified SQP. Staff turnover at the top of the South African mission delays our collaboration. End Summary. "No Problem," but no Manpower -------------- ¶2. (U) On receipt of reftel IAEACouns met November 13 with RSA counterpart Bennie Lombard to convey U.S. interest in partnering with South Africa, per the August Minty-Einhorn understanding, to encourage further states to sign and implement Comprehensive Safeguards Agreements (CSA) with the Additional Protocol (AP) with the IAEA before the 2010 NPT RevCon. Msnoff noted U.S. interest in working together also to expand the number of relevant countries with the modified Small Quantities Protocol (SQP) in force, and provided Lombard the nonpaper from reftel para 13. Lombard warned that with the departures from Vienna of his ambassador and himself in December 2009 and expected gaps of several weeks in their positions, the RSA mission would likely not be in a position to engage with us until mid-January. ¶3. (U) Ambassador raised the issue November 18 in a bilateral office call on Gumbi in his mission. Gumbi confirmed that the RSA mission had already conveyed our nonpaper to Pretoria and that his successor and Lombard's had both been made aware of the issue. He said RSA had no problem with cooperating on CSA outreach but that we needed to discuss strategy and tactics. (See also below.) ¶4. (SBU) During the ensuing meetings of the IAEA Technical Assistance and Cooperation Committee (TACC) and Board of Governors (BoG) November 23-27, Msnoff and STATE/ISN colleagues acquainted RSA counselor-designate Lunga Bengu with the issue. We expect Bengu back in mid-January to succeed Lombard, who said in the meeting his mission had not yet been instructed to engage and suggested an Einhorn-Minty call. U.S. side took note and provided reftel nonpaper a third time to RSA side. Gumbi on Governance -------------- ¶5. (U) In their November 18 bilateral, Gumbi (accredited as ambassador to Austria, Slovakia, and Slovenia and as PermRep to international organizations in Vienna) confirmed he would depart in December 2009 to a new post in Pretoria. Without identifying a title, he said he would cover the UNSC, IAEA, and disarmament, including the CD in Geneva; he added that he might get the USA in his portfolio, too. He expected to be back in Vienna for the June 2010 IAEA Board of Governors meeting and the General Conference in September. ¶6. (SBU) Ambassador drew on reftel para 12 points and emphasized South Africa's leadership position in the Non-Aligned Movement as an asset in promoting safeguards agreements. Gumbi said that after thinking about our paper (which his mission had had for several days),what he had found missing were means for ensuring the Agency had the capacity to "deliver" on safeguards, as well as steps to "de-politicize" verification work and ensure its acceptance as a public good. In the ensuing exchange Gumbi embarked thematically from the damaged credibility of nonproliferation claims after the Iraq case of 2002/3. He touched on exclusive sourcing of safeguards technology from advanced nuclear nations and asserted that the IAEA relied on too few partners for analysis of environmental samples. (To the Ambassador's question, Gumbi acknowledged not knowing if any South African laboratories were contracted by the IAEA's Safeguards Analytical Laboratory, but he said "everyone needs to take 'full ownership'.") ¶7. (SBU) Finally, he critiqued at some length that the "governing element" was missing from the Board of Governors', and for that matter from the Secretariat's, interaction with countries of safeguards concern. Instead of simply issuing statements amplifying what each Member State finds most of concern in the Director General's reports, as in the case of Iran, Gumbi went on, the Board should be providing "corrective" measures and incentives. It was unfair for Member States to go on criticizing infractions and UNVIE VIEN 00000551 002 OF 002 requiring the Secretariat to rectify situations without helping a state in question "meet our expectations." To our dismay, Gumbi volunteered no thoughts on the thrust of the Ambassador's query and the nonpaper -- the identification of countries to lobby for CSA, AP or modified SQP adherence and the strategy for doing so. ¶8. (U) Begin text of Ambassador Gumbi's official biography, from South African Mission, Vienna: Leslie Mbangambi Gumbi Permanent Representative South Africa Prior to joining the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Africa in 1995, Ambassador Leslie Mbangambi Gumbi was, among others, a full time member of a national liberation movement, an NGO worker and a researcher in strategic studies. In the latter capacity, Ambassador Gumbi authored several articles published in specialized professional journals and contributed chapters to two published books. From 1996 to 2000, Ambassador Gumbi was Counsellor at the South African Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York where he dealt with peacekeeping, disarmament and Security Council matters. In New York, he was also in drafting teams of various working groups and was appointed to several stewardship roles. In August 2000, Ambassador Gumbi was promoted to a Director's rank in the Department of Foreign Affairs. In the period from 2000 to early 2003, Ambassador Gumbi successfully led several South African delegations to some major international and regional meetings and conferences. In 2003, Ambassador Gumbi also served in the Third Party Verification Mechanism for the Implementation of the Peace and Security Agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. From February 2004 to August 2005, Ambassador Gumbi was Minister, Deputy Permanent Representative at the South African Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations at Geneva. He continued in this capacity to promote actively South Africa's interests in the United Nations disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control machinery within the multilateral system in Geneva, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the United Nations General Assembly. In September 2005, Ambassador Gumbi was appointed South Africa's Ambassador to Austria, Slovenia, and Slovakia as well as Permanent Representative to the United Nations Organizations in Vienna. In 2009, he was promoted to the rank of chief Director in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Gumbi's main professional focus continues to be on peacekeeping, disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. During his recent speaking engagements in Europe and the United States of America on disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control Ambassador Gumbi made presentations on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, nuclear weapons free zones and the nuclear fuel cycle. Ambassador Gumbi obtained his Master's Degree in Political Science and International Relations at Warsaw University in Poland. He is married to Veronica Gumbi and has five children. End Text. DAVIES