Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09USOSCE214
2009-10-02 11:33:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Mission USOSCE
Cable title:  

FSC: 1540 BEST PRACTICE GUIDE DECISION AGREED

Tags:  KCFE OSCE PARM PREL RS XG 
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VZCZCXRO0034
PP RUEHAST RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL
RUEHSR
DE RUEHVEN #0214/01 2751133
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 021133Z OCT 09
FM USMISSION USOSCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6620
INFO RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDRUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUESDT/DTRA-OSES DARMSTADT GE PRIORITY
RUEASWA/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0830
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA PRIORITY 1387
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1328
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

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