US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA290

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ARMS SALES TO YEMEN: SLOVAK RESPONSE

Identifier: 05BRATISLAVA290
Wikileaks: View 05BRATISLAVA290 at Wikileaks.org
Origin: Embassy Bratislava
Created: 2005-04-12 14:51:00
Classification: SECRET
Tags: PARM PREL MASS ETTC LO
Redacted: This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

S E C R E T BRATISLAVA 000290 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR NP/CBM, NP/ECNP, EUR/NCE, EUR/PRA, NEA/ARP, EUR, 
PM/WRA, AND EAP/CM 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2015 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, MASS, ETTC, LO 
SUBJECT: ARMS SALES TO YEMEN: SLOVAK RESPONSE 
 
REF: (A) STATE 60618 (B) STATE 22315 
 
Classified By: Pol-Econ Chief Debra Hevia for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) 
 
Exports to Yemen 
---------------- 
1. (S) Poloff delivered reftel A demarche April 11 to 
Gabriela Mrugova in the MFA's Department of Disarmament, 
OSCE, and Counter-terrorism.  Mrugova said neither the GOS 
nor Slovak arms brokers have exported SA/LW to Yemeni arms 
brokers.  The Slovak MOD sold some non-lethal equipment to 
Yemen's MOD in the first half of 2004, consisting mainly of 
spare parts.  All sales have confirmed end user certificates 
from Yemeni military attaches in Cairo or Prague.  Mrugova 
stressed that all sales to Yemen undergo an especially 
rigorous background inspection taking into account EU law and 
treaty commitments, whether the items are lethal or 
non-lethal equipment, potential for terrorist diversion, and 
information on brokers from the Wassenaar Agreement 
information system.  Mrugova said the Slovak MOD sales were 
similar to those conducted by other EU states. 
 
Hermes Arms Broker Update 
------------------------- 
2. (S) Following up on reftel B, Mrugova offered that the 
Slovak military intelligence is investigating the Hermes arms 
broker.  The investigation is on-going and the MFA has not 
received any preliminary conclusions. 
 
Inter-ministerial Coordination on Export Controls 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
3. (S) Some NGOs have recently criticized Slovak 
inter-ministerial communication on export controls, claiming 
the various actors do not speak to one another.  Mrugova 
noted that an inter-ministerial group meets every Tuesday to 
discuss export license requests.  Meetings are attended by a 
representative from the MOD, MFA, Ministry of Economy, 
Ministry of Interior, the Customs Directorate, the Slovak 
Intelligence Service, and military intelligence. 
THAYER 
 
 
NNNN 

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