US embassy cable - 05ALGIERS1175

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001175 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2015 
TAGS: MARR, PREL, PGOV, AG, Status Of Force Agreement (SOFA) 
SUBJECT: FM BEDJAOUI PROVIDES ORAL SOFA ASSURANCES, 
WELCOMES U.S. EXPERTS TEAM TO DISCUSS SOFA 
 
REF: ERDMAN-MCNICHOLAS E-MAIL OF 6/7/05 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman; reasons 1.4 (B)(D) 
 
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION 
-------------------------- 
 
1. (C) FM Bedjaoui told Ambassador June 8 that Algeria could 
not accept our proposed exchange of notes for a Flintlock 
exercise SOFA because of domestic legal constraints. 
However, he repeatedly reaffirmed the importance Algeria 
attached to these exercises; said Algeria was considering 
possible amendments to their domestic legislation that would 
allow such SOFA commitments; and indicated that in the 
meantime Algeria was willing to provide oral assurances that 
Vienna-like protections for administrative and technical 
personnel would in practice be granted to personnel 
participating in Flintlock (and by implication future 
exercises).  Bedjaoui also expressed interest in seeing 
examples of other SOFA agreements in force and responded very 
positively to our suggestion that we send an experts team to 
Algeria to discuss various examples and address Algerian 
legal concerns about a SOFA agreement.  We recommend sending 
a SOFA team in the July time frame.  (End Summary) 
 
AMB:  WE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER AGAINST A COMMON THREAT 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
2. (C) During June 8 meeting on other issues with FM 
Bedjaoui, Ambassador raised the Ministry's negative response 
to our request for an exercise SOFA in conjunction with 
Flintlock 2005 and asked for clarification as to the nature 
of the problem.  It was important to understand what the 
problem was, Ambassador noted, so we could determine if there 
were ways around it.  The recent bold GSPC attack against a 
military base in Mauritania was a reminder of the importance 
of such exercises and the need to work together to strengthen 
the capability of regional militaries to protect their 
territory and prevent their countries from becoming 
safe-havens for terrorist networks. 
 
AMB:  DIFFICULT TO PROCEED WITH 
LARGER EXERCISES WITHOUT SOFA 
------------------------------- 
 
3. (C) The attack, Ambassador continued,  also graphically 
illustrated that the strategic threat to Algeria did not 
emanate from the north, the east, or the west, but from the 
south.  It was in Algeria's interest to work with us to 
resolve the SOFA issue.  While General Jones had been able to 
grant a waiver because of the very small number of U.S. 
Special Forces involved in Flintlock 2005, it would be very 
difficult to proceed with larger exercises without SOFA 
protections.  In this regard, planning was to start shortly 
(June 12-15) on military exercises to take place this coming 
August. 
 
BEDJAOUI:  DOMESTIC LEGAL DIFFICULTIES WITH SOFA 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
4. (C) Bedjaoui welcomed growing military cooperation between 
Algeria and the United States and said that President 
Bouteflika had been very pleased by the visit of General 
Jones (SACEUR).  He repeatedly assured Ambassador that 
Algeria welcomed military exercises such as Flintlock 2005, 
recognized their important contribution to countering 
terrorist threats in the region, and wanted to see them 
continue.  That said, explained Bedjaoui, a longtime judge 
and former president of the International Court of Justice at 
The Hague, Algeria had to scrupulously observe national 
legislation. 
 
ALGERIA WILLING TO PROVIDE ORAL ASSURANCES 
------------------------------------------ 
 
5. (C) In this regard, but without being specific, Bedjaoui 
said that our proposed text for an exchange of notes went 
beyond what Algerian law would permit.  This would 
necessitate amending Algerian law.  They were now examining 
how to do this, and "it would take some time" to get amended 
legislation in place.  Ambassador hoped the necessary changes 
in domestic legislation could be carried out as quickly as 
possible.  Explaining that all we were essentially asking was 
for our participating troops to be provided Vienna-like 
protections accorded to administrative and technical 
personnel, Ambassador asked if we could at least have oral 
assurances that such protections would in practice be granted 
for those involved in the exercise.  Bedjaoui unhesitatingly 
replied, "yes." 
 
BEDJAOUI WELCOMES SOFA EXPERTS TEAM VISIT 
----------------------------------------- 
 
6. (C) Ambassador asked if Algerian law went beyond the 
Vienna Convention, since we had 150 SOFA agreements with 
countries around the world and none of these appeared to have 
problems of compatability with the Convention.  Bedjaoui said 
it would be useful to see some of these texts.  In this 
regard, he recalled Ambassador's comment in a previous 
meeting that we even had a SOFA with Russia, quickly 
clarifying that they don't usually look to Russia as a model 
these days!  Ambassador said he would check to see what could 
be provided but suggested a better idea might be to follow 
through on a suggestion that Acting Assistant Secretary 
Likens had made to MOD SYG Senhadji during his May visit to 
Washington.  Namely, that we send an experts group to discuss 
SOFA issues directly with Algerian MOD and MFA officials. 
The experts would have detailed information on our various 
SOFA agreements and hopefully would be able to address 
Algerian legal concerns about what a SOFA entailed.  Bedjaoui 
responded positively, saying this was "an excellent idea" and 
they would be happy to have such a group come. 
 
 
 
 
ERDMAN