FSC: 1540 BEST PRACTICE GUIDE DECISION AGREED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 USOSCE 000214 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR VCI/CCA, VCI/NRRC, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA, EUR/CARC, SCA/CEN, SCA/RA, PM/WRA, ISN/CPI NSC FOR SHERWOOD-RANDALL, HAYDEN, MCFAUL, HOVENIER, NILSSON, FRIEDT OSD FOR ISA (WALLENDER, KEHL) JCS, EUCOM, USAREUR AND CENTCOM: FOR J-5 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCFE OSCE PARM PREL RS XG SUBJECT: FSC: 1540 BEST PRACTICE GUIDE DECISION AGREED ¶1. (SBU) Summary and Action Request: The 1540 Best Practice Guide (1540 BPG) cleared without incident the OSCE's Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) on September 30. The FSC received a sobering update on the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina's political-military program from retired Brigadier General Ulrich Heider, Director of Security Cooperation; weak political will in BiH is delaying progress on several issues including the management of Small Arms and Lights Weapons (SA/LW) and munitions issues including security concerns for managing surplus weapons. In contrast, OSCE Tajikistan Project Manager Alexander Anoshkin briefed on excellent multi-national and interagency cooperation in the successful completion of the "Comprehensive Programme on Small Arms and Light Weapons and Conventional Ammunition." He noted that there was still an urgent need for assistance on Landmine removal and destruction. The U.S. drew the FSC's attention to the passage of UNSCR 1887. Russia raised discrepancies in the U.S. and Georgia's 2008 SA/LW information submissions. The UK seeks co-sponsors for its SA/LW Food for Thought paper (RFG: see para. 12). End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) The 589th Meeting of the Forum for Security Cooperation agreed to the Decision on a Best Practice Guide (BPG) on UNSCR 1540 Export Controls and Transhipment (FSC.DEC/7/09) without incident. The UK Chair (Gare) specially arranged an early session of Working Group A 15 minutes prior to the FSC plenary to ensure the 1540 BPG and the Decision on the dates and venue of the 20th Annual Implementation Assessment Meeting (FSC.DEC/6/09)--AIAM to be held March 2-3, 2010 in Vienna--were cleared for easy passage. The U.S. (Ellis) welcomed the FSC decision on 1540 BPG and encouraged other delegations to author remaining chapters of the BPG. Russia (Uliyanov) supported the U.S. comment and applauded the BPG decision to help pS make 1540 effective. Security Dialogue ¶3. (SBU) The FSC received two presentations under Agenda Item I: Security Dialogue from representatives of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and the OSCE Office in Tajikistan respectively. The first by the Director of Security Cooperation for the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, retired Brigadier General Ulrich Heider, noted an intensification of focus by his office over the past year on addressing BiH military surplus weapons and ammunition. Heider expressed concern with the dearth of qualified candidates for his field staff, underscoring the need for pS to continue to support strong secondments. He also expressed frustration with political machinations that were steering the BiH away from the OSCE's preferred manner for managing surplus weapons (i.e., destruction) as opposed to those who want to export BiH's useable SA/LW. Heider underscored the importance of building capacity in BiH so that it was capable of fulfilling its international and national commitments without external assistance. He noted that BiH compliance under Article IV, Annex 1-B of the Dayton Peace Accords was where assistance to BiH was the easiest, and predicted that the BiH commitment would be self-sustaining in this area in 2010. In response to a U.S. question Haider expressed concern that Bosnian authorities, particularly those local police that are warehousing small arms collected or confiscated over the years, do not have adequate security measures in place to deter or defeat illegal access. He furthermore noted that larger storage facilities lacked surveillance devices or effective barriers to prevent unauthorized access to weapons. ¶4. (SBU) In contrast, the following presentation by OSCE Tajikistan Project Manager Alexander Anoshkin on the Comprehensive Programme on Small Arms and Light Weapons and USOSCE 00000214 002 OF 003 Conventional Armaments described a clear success of multi-national cooperation, interagency support, and political will. Anoshkin noted the success of the program resulted from excellent chief technical advisors (all Norwegians, two of whom were lost in a tragic vehicle accident),the consistent support of the CPC and the Group of Friends, the flexibility of donors, and the timeliness of the planning and execution cycle which was not held up by financial concerns. Several delegations remarked on the excellent performance of the program, including Russia (Uliyanov) noting it was "an important success and a clear demonstration of practical achievement" by a CPC-sponsored program. Nonetheless Anoshkin appealed for additional technical and financial assistance for a subsequent operation to remove anti-personnel landmines present in Tajikistan. ¶5. (SBU) Under Agenda Items 2 and 3: the 1540 BPG and dates for the 20th AIAM were agreed respectively without comment. Under Agenda Item 4: General Statements, the U.S. (Ellis) drew attention to the passage of UNSCR 1887 as further progress and political will behind the nuclear non-proliferation agenda, including strengthening implementation of UNSCR 1540. Working Group A: Russia on Georgia Data Discrepancies ¶6. (SBU) Working Group A was reconvened following the plenary. Russia (Uliyanov) alleged that some pS submissions on SA/LW for 2008 contained discrepancies with data submitted by Georgia. Russia said it had contacted the pS in question bilaterally and expected that 2-3 weeks would be sufficient for consultations with capitals. Uliyanov said Russia expects these discrepancies to be corrected with appropriate amendments to pS submissions. In response, Georgia (Giorgadze) said a preliminary review of Georgian data may appear to indicate a discrepancy, but that if true, these were merely technical issues related to submission timing. ¶7. (SBU) Comment: Just prior to Working Group A, Uliyanov informed the U.S. delegation his intent to note, without naming names, discrepancies between Georgian and U.S. SA/LW data. Uliyanov passed USDel a copy of the two submissions highlighting apparent discrepancies for rifles (U.S. export to Georgia--14,400, Georgia import from the U.S. 18,400); light machineguns (Georgia import from the U.S.--400, U.S. export not shown; and heavy machine guns (Georgia import from the U.S.--40, U.S. export not shown). The Georgian Rep (Giorgadze) also prior to the session separately alerted the USDel that the discrepancies described by Russia were likely related to when the U.S. and Georgia recorded the transfers. For example, he said the machineguns were transferred to Georgian troops in Iraq in 2007, but not imported to Georgia until 2008. Thus the U.S. reported the transfer in 2007 while Georgia did not report the transfer until 2008. End comment. ¶8. (SBU) The Chair (Gare) reported on a significant increase in delinquent submissions for exchanges of military information. Gare noted the number of delinquent submissions since May 2009, when reminder notes where sent, and the number of pS that have yet either to submit information or reply to the Chair's reminder. Inter alia, Gare said that for Conventional Arms Transfers submissions due on June 13, 15 pS failed to submit data. The Chair sent 14 letters out in accordance with the decision on a reminding mechanism, and to date 12 have yet to respond to the reminder (Note. Gare's report indicated that for several submissions the number of delinquent submissions had more than doubled since last year. End Note.). USOSCE 00000214 003 OF 003 ¶9. (SBU) Comment: Afterwards, the Secretariat confirmed that although the U.S. had not yet submitted its CAT data, it had provided the required explanatory note on June 28. Gare also noted that the Chair's report was prompted by Russia, which indicated it would note the delinquencies and the failure of the Chair to fulfill its obligation under the reminding mechanism if the Chair did not address the issue directly. End Comment. AOB ¶10. (SBU) Greece and Norway announced that they would contribute 30,000 Euros and 215,000 Euros respectively to Phase II of the Belarusian SA/LW destruction project. ¶11. (SBU) The FSC Coordinator for SA/LW (Hartnell, UK) highlighted a Food for Thought (FFT) paper distributed on 7 September 2009 as FSC.DEL/151/09, which is intended to update FSC.DEC/15/02 on Implementation of Section V of the SALW Document. Hartnell encouraged pS to volunteer to sponsor and cosponsor the FFT. France, Sweden, Cyprus and Spain intervened in support of the update. ¶12. (SBU) RFG: The FFT (FSC.DEL/151/09) proposes improving the existing SA/LW implementation mechanism to bring SA/LW procedures into greater conformity with the SCA procedures. Mission believes the UK FFT adds results-oriented value to the SA/LW procedures. Mission recommends U.S. co-sponsorship and requests Washington's concurrence. End RFG. ¶13. (SBU) There was no action for Working Group B. The next FSC plenary will be October 7. CHRISTENSEN