US embassy cable - 04HANOI726

UNCLAS HANOI 000726 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR S/CT; INL/AAE AND EAP/BCLTV 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, VM, CTERR 
SUBJECT:  POSSIBLE UNODC TERRORISM PROJECT IN VIETNAM 
 
 
1. (U) This is an action cable.  Please see paragraph 6. 
 
2. (U) Poloff met February 27 with Dolgor Solongo, Crime 
Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, Terrorism 
Prevention Branch, UN Office of Drugs and Crime.  Solongo 
was in Vietnam to review the GVN's approach to 
counterterrorism, particularly the legal and regulatory 
environment and prospects for achieving Vietnamese accession 
to the remaining four counterterrorism conventions.  The 
GVN, she said, would need to undertake legislative reforms 
to be able to accede to the four CT conventions it had not 
yet signed. 
 
3. (U) Solango said UNODC might consider a legal assistance 
project in FY 2005 with the goal of working with the GVN to 
review and reform the legal code in such a way that Vietnam 
would be in a position to accede to the remaining CT 
conventions.  Such a project would conceivably last one year 
and cost USD 500,000; the expected outcome would be GVN 
accession to all four remaining CT conventions.  However, 
Solango noted that UNODC was not ready to make a commitment 
to doing a counterterrorism project in Vietnam, and 
cautioned that obtaining GVN agreement to do such a project 
would be a delicate matter. 
 
4. (U) Poloff told Solongo that obtaining GVN accession to 
the CT conventions is one of Embassy Hanoi's strategic goals 
and that a project like this might interest the USG.  Later, 
the UNODC Representative in Hanoi told Poloff that UNODC 
would prefer to do a legal assistance project that was wider 
in scope than just counterterrorism and covered more of the 
criminal code.  One way or the other, a decisive factor 
would be what sort of project the U.S. might be willing to 
fund, she added. 
 
5. (U) Comment: Deficiencies in Vietnam's legal code and 
interagency conflicts over resource allocation represent the 
main obstacles to Vietnam's accession to the remaining four 
CT conventions.  Legal reform will be necessary to overcome 
these hurdles, and UNODC has the expertise and personnel to 
carry it out.  In addition, UNODC has a track record of 
working with the Ministry of Justice on legal reform in the 
areas of counternarcotics and trafficking in persons, and 
has excellent contacts within the MOJ and the Ministry of 
Public Security.  This represents the best possibility we 
have seen to date of achieving the goal of Vietnamese 
accession to the remaining four CT conventions.  If the U.S. 
were prepared to fund the project or part of it, UNODC would 
likely carry it out.  End comment. 
 
6. (U) ACTION REQUEST: Please advise if FY05 funding might 
be available for the project described above. 
BURGHARDT