Wikileaks - DCLXIX
99066 3/5/2007 13:00 07MADRID402 Embassy Madrid CONFIDENTIAL 07MADRID134 VZCZCXYZ0000 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHMD #0402 0641300 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 051300Z MAR 07 FM AMEMBASSY MADRID TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2002 INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0311 RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS 0296 RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0608 RUEHSL/AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA 0138 RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 5023 RUEHBM/AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST 1408 RUEHUP/AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST 0058 RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0086 RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0854 RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN 4843 RUEHDL/AMEMBASSY DUBLIN 0118 RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI 1499 RUEHKU/AMEMBASSY KUWAIT 0121 RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON 1671 RUEHLJ/AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA 0232 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0858 RUEHLE/AMEMBASSY LUXEMBOURG 1602 RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO 2430 RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 2736 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1254 RUEHPG/AMEMBASSY PRAGUE 1040 RUEHRK/AMEMBASSY REYKJAVIK 0025 RUEHRA/AMEMBASSY RIGA 0087 RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 2081 RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO 0017 RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0692 RUEHSF/AMEMBASSY SOFIA 0739 RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 3083 RUEHTL/AMEMBASSY TALLINN 0110 RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 7247 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0690 RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 0555 RUEHVL/AMEMBASSY VILNIUS 0104 RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW 0123 RUEHVB/AMEMBASSY ZAGREB 0377 RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0840 RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1465 C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000402
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE AND PM/WRA (KATHERINE BAKER)
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2017 TAGS: MOPS, PARM, PREL, NATO, SP SUBJECT: SPANISH BACKTRACK ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS
REF: A. MADRID 134
B. STATE 6667
Classified By: DCM HUGO LLORENS PER 1.4 (B/D)
1. (C) During a March 2 meeting scheduled to discuss other disarmament-related issues, MFA Disarmament Affairs Deputy Director General Ignacio Sanchez sheepishly informed ESTHOFF that the information he had provided on January 24 regarding Spanish policy on cluster munitions (REF A) had been inaccurate. REF A reported that Spain had not been invited to the February 22-23 Oslo Cluster Munitions Conference, that Spain would probably not attend even if invited, and that Spain opposed a ban on the use of cluster munitions.
2. (C) Sanchez explained that Spain was eventually invited to attend the Oslo conference and did indeed decide not to attend. But then, just days before the conference, while Sanchez was out of Madrid on official travel, an unidentified NGO succeeded in convincing Deputy Foreign Minister Bernadino Lean and Sanchez's boss, Disarmament and Terrorism Affairs Director General Angel Lossada, that Lossada should attend the Oslo conference after all. At Oslo, according to Sanchez, Lossada agreed that Spain would support a ban on some of the "dirtiest" or "worst" kinds of cluster munitions.
3. (C) ESTHOFF probed as to whether Spain now supported an Ottawa type negotiation to ban certain types of cluster munitions or preferred to see the talks remain in the context of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Sanchez said this remains under debate inside the Spanish Government. He believed that if the CCW process did not show movement in the upcoming months, Spain might then support an Ottawa style negotiation.
4. (C) COMMENT: Previous conversations with Sanchez had revealed a split between his views and those of DG Lossada. Sanchez, the technical expert, is more supportive of the U.S. position on cluster munitions. His views appeared to prevail until the Spanish NGO community succeeded in raising the profile of this issue. Now that his more PR-minded superiors are engaged, we expect Spain to be more supportive of efforts to ban or curb the use of cluster munitions. AGUIRRE
