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WIKILEAKS CABLES: US FIGHTS FLOW OF ARMS FROM EASTERN EUROPE TO ITS ENEMIES
Robert Booth
guardian.co.uk
Monday 6 December 2010 21.58 GMT
US warning to former Soviet states fails to stem flow of weapons to
Middle East regimes and Islamist groups
A Yemeni soldier guards the US Embassy in San'a days after it was
attacked by militants in 2008 - the cables detail fears over weapons
falling in the hands of US enemies. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP
The US is fighting a constant battle to stem the flow of arms from
eastern Europe to terrorist groups and unstable regimes in the Middle
East, US embassy cables leaked tonight revealed.
US officials are shown attempting to intervene in more than a dozen
international arms deals which involved countries including Ukraine,
Bulgaria, Armenia and China selling weapons to customers in Iran,
Iraq, Yemen and south Sudan.
The secret WikiLeaks documents record American officials confronting
Washington's growing concern at arms proliferation in the Middle East
in often frank exchanges with governments in the former Soviet states.
In one deal detailed in the cables late last year, Yemen's defence
ministry bought $100m of weapons - including heavy artillery
ammunition, sniper rifles, anti-aircraft guns and howitzers - from
the front company of an illicit Serbian arms dealer last December.
The Cyprus-based company is linked to Slobodan Tesic, a Serbian named
on the United Nations security council's travel ban list, according
to the cable from the US embassy in Sana'a reported in December 2009.
US diplomats also reported intelligence that Yemen was pursuing
further arms deals with eastern European countries for $30m to $55m
each, sparking fears in Washington the weapons may be diverted to
Yemen's black market, which is thought to help arm Hamas's fight
against Israel and may further destabilise a country fast becoming
al-Qaida's new stronghold.
In January this year the US embassy in Sofia warned the Bulgarian
government against approving a deal allegedly financed by the United
Arab Emirates to send 30,000 assault rifles, 100,000 high-explosive
charges, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition to Yemen from the
Bulgarian arms manufacturer Arsenal.
Reacting to intelligence of Yemen's arms negotiations with eastern
European manufacturers, the US embassy in Sana'a reported: "It is
currently unclear if the Yemeni government is merely shopping around,
or if the country is actually attempting to purchase several hundred
million dollars in small arms for use against Houthi rebels. If the
latter is true, we have concerns about stockpile security and the
potential for these weapons to be diverted to Yemen's robust black
market."
The cables show the US military requested access to Yemeni airspace
to mount surveillance operations against arms smugglers using small
sailing boats to ship weapons across the Red Sea to Sudan and then
overland to Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
"These shipments usually transit in small groups of flagged and
unflagged dhows that use territorial waters, busy harbours, and
mangroves to mask their routes and increase their likelihood of
evading interception by US or other forces," the cable said. "The
vessels are met either on shore or a short distance off the coast.
Once landed, we assess that the goods are transported north by car
through Sudan."
There was further concern about Bulgaria's role in 2008 when the
secretary of state at the time, Condoleezza Rice, ordered diplomats
in nearby Armenia to complain about an arms shipment originating from
Bulgaria that was used in lethal attacks against US forces in Iraq.
US diplomats rebuked the Armenian defence minister for personally
facilitating the sale of 100 Bulgarian-made RPG-22 anti-tank rockets
and machine guns to Iran, almost 10% of which were recovered from
Shia militants in Iraq and were used in lethal attacks on US forces
in 2008. Despite assurances from the Armenian government that the
Bulgarian weapons would be used only in Armenia, US forces in Iraq
recovered two of the weapons whose serial numbers matched those
originally sold to Armenia.
"The US does not tolerate its friends serving as an illicit conduit for
Iranian arms procurement, especially when it has been well documented
that Iran, a state sponsor if terrorism, has armed Shia militants in
Iraq and Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon," diplomats told their Armenian
counterparts, before threatening to impose US sanctions. Rice also
ordered US diplomats in Beijing to complain to China about Chinese
arms sold to Iran used by Shia militias fighting US forces in Iraq.
"We have demarched [complained to] China repeatedly on its conventional
arms transfers to Iran, urging Beijing to stop these transfers due to
unacceptably high risk that such weapons would be diverted to militants
and terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere," said the May 2008 cable.
It reportedly told Chinese officials: "We know that Iran has provided
Chinese weapons to extremist groups in Iraq and Afghanistan that are
using these weapons to kill Americans and Iraqis, something we take
very seriously."
In November 2009, during US-Ukraine non-proliferation talks in
Kiev, the US deputy assistant secretary of state, Vann Van Diepen,
complained about the sale of potential ballistic missile parts to
Iran and rebuked the country over evidence that in mid-August 2009
Ukrainian firm Ukrspetsexport shipped a cargo of armoured personnel
carrier components, automatic grenade launchers, anti-tank guided
missiles, and tank machine guns to Burma.
Van Diepen said the deal came despite assurances made to the US
government that there would be no further arms exports to the
repressive military dictatorship after 2008.He also confronted the
Ukranian officials with evidence they had sold tanks to South Sudan,
despite assurances to the contrary.
"Van Diepen showed the Ukrainians cleared satellite imagery of T-72
tanks unloaded in Kenya, transferred to railyards for onward shipment,
and finally in South Sudan," the embassy reported. "This led to a
commotion on the Ukrainian side."
From: A. Papazian
Robert Booth
guardian.co.uk
Monday 6 December 2010 21.58 GMT
US warning to former Soviet states fails to stem flow of weapons to
Middle East regimes and Islamist groups
A Yemeni soldier guards the US Embassy in San'a days after it was
attacked by militants in 2008 - the cables detail fears over weapons
falling in the hands of US enemies. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP
The US is fighting a constant battle to stem the flow of arms from
eastern Europe to terrorist groups and unstable regimes in the Middle
East, US embassy cables leaked tonight revealed.
US officials are shown attempting to intervene in more than a dozen
international arms deals which involved countries including Ukraine,
Bulgaria, Armenia and China selling weapons to customers in Iran,
Iraq, Yemen and south Sudan.
The secret WikiLeaks documents record American officials confronting
Washington's growing concern at arms proliferation in the Middle East
in often frank exchanges with governments in the former Soviet states.
In one deal detailed in the cables late last year, Yemen's defence
ministry bought $100m of weapons - including heavy artillery
ammunition, sniper rifles, anti-aircraft guns and howitzers - from
the front company of an illicit Serbian arms dealer last December.
The Cyprus-based company is linked to Slobodan Tesic, a Serbian named
on the United Nations security council's travel ban list, according
to the cable from the US embassy in Sana'a reported in December 2009.
US diplomats also reported intelligence that Yemen was pursuing
further arms deals with eastern European countries for $30m to $55m
each, sparking fears in Washington the weapons may be diverted to
Yemen's black market, which is thought to help arm Hamas's fight
against Israel and may further destabilise a country fast becoming
al-Qaida's new stronghold.
In January this year the US embassy in Sofia warned the Bulgarian
government against approving a deal allegedly financed by the United
Arab Emirates to send 30,000 assault rifles, 100,000 high-explosive
charges, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition to Yemen from the
Bulgarian arms manufacturer Arsenal.
Reacting to intelligence of Yemen's arms negotiations with eastern
European manufacturers, the US embassy in Sana'a reported: "It is
currently unclear if the Yemeni government is merely shopping around,
or if the country is actually attempting to purchase several hundred
million dollars in small arms for use against Houthi rebels. If the
latter is true, we have concerns about stockpile security and the
potential for these weapons to be diverted to Yemen's robust black
market."
The cables show the US military requested access to Yemeni airspace
to mount surveillance operations against arms smugglers using small
sailing boats to ship weapons across the Red Sea to Sudan and then
overland to Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
"These shipments usually transit in small groups of flagged and
unflagged dhows that use territorial waters, busy harbours, and
mangroves to mask their routes and increase their likelihood of
evading interception by US or other forces," the cable said. "The
vessels are met either on shore or a short distance off the coast.
Once landed, we assess that the goods are transported north by car
through Sudan."
There was further concern about Bulgaria's role in 2008 when the
secretary of state at the time, Condoleezza Rice, ordered diplomats
in nearby Armenia to complain about an arms shipment originating from
Bulgaria that was used in lethal attacks against US forces in Iraq.
US diplomats rebuked the Armenian defence minister for personally
facilitating the sale of 100 Bulgarian-made RPG-22 anti-tank rockets
and machine guns to Iran, almost 10% of which were recovered from
Shia militants in Iraq and were used in lethal attacks on US forces
in 2008. Despite assurances from the Armenian government that the
Bulgarian weapons would be used only in Armenia, US forces in Iraq
recovered two of the weapons whose serial numbers matched those
originally sold to Armenia.
"The US does not tolerate its friends serving as an illicit conduit for
Iranian arms procurement, especially when it has been well documented
that Iran, a state sponsor if terrorism, has armed Shia militants in
Iraq and Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon," diplomats told their Armenian
counterparts, before threatening to impose US sanctions. Rice also
ordered US diplomats in Beijing to complain to China about Chinese
arms sold to Iran used by Shia militias fighting US forces in Iraq.
"We have demarched [complained to] China repeatedly on its conventional
arms transfers to Iran, urging Beijing to stop these transfers due to
unacceptably high risk that such weapons would be diverted to militants
and terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere," said the May 2008 cable.
It reportedly told Chinese officials: "We know that Iran has provided
Chinese weapons to extremist groups in Iraq and Afghanistan that are
using these weapons to kill Americans and Iraqis, something we take
very seriously."
In November 2009, during US-Ukraine non-proliferation talks in
Kiev, the US deputy assistant secretary of state, Vann Van Diepen,
complained about the sale of potential ballistic missile parts to
Iran and rebuked the country over evidence that in mid-August 2009
Ukrainian firm Ukrspetsexport shipped a cargo of armoured personnel
carrier components, automatic grenade launchers, anti-tank guided
missiles, and tank machine guns to Burma.
Van Diepen said the deal came despite assurances made to the US
government that there would be no further arms exports to the
repressive military dictatorship after 2008.He also confronted the
Ukranian officials with evidence they had sold tanks to South Sudan,
despite assurances to the contrary.
"Van Diepen showed the Ukrainians cleared satellite imagery of T-72
tanks unloaded in Kenya, transferred to railyards for onward shipment,
and finally in South Sudan," the embassy reported. "This led to a
commotion on the Ukrainian side."
From: A. Papazian