VZCZCXRO9656
PP RUEHSL
DE RUEHUNV #0551/01 3411557
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071557Z DEC 09
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0389
INFO RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 0289
RUEHSL/AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA 0001
RUEHLJ/AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA 0245
RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 1498
RHEBAAA/DOE WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 UNVIE VIENNA 000551 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
ISN/MNSA FOR ADAMS/SHARP; ISN/RA FOR FISHER 
ALSO FOR T, S/SANAC, IO/GS, ISN/NESS, INR/B 
PRETORIA FOR ECON-YOUNG, POL-SEIDENSTRICKER 
DOE FOR NA20 BAKER/LOONEY; NA24 WHITNEY/MENDELSOHN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KNNP PREL TRGY KTIA SF XA IAEA
SUBJECT: RSA GAME TO PROMOTE SAFEGUARDS AGREEMENTS, LATER; GUMBI 
RETURNING TO PRETORIA 
 
REF:  STATE 116776 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: Mission reached out to South African counterparts 
upon receipt of reftel and will continue efforts in Vienna to 
collaborate in recruiting further states to sign and implement 
Comprehensive Safeguards Agreements with the Additional Protocol or, 
as appropriate, to modify existing Small Quantities Protocols or 
adopt the modified SQP.  Staff turnover at the top of the South 
African mission delays our collaboration.  End Summary. 
 
"No Problem," but no Manpower 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) On receipt of reftel IAEACouns met November 13 with RSA 
counterpart Bennie Lombard to convey U.S. interest in partnering 
with South Africa, per the August Minty-Einhorn understanding, to 
encourage further states to sign and implement Comprehensive 
Safeguards Agreements (CSA) with the Additional Protocol (AP) with 
the IAEA before the 2010 NPT RevCon.  Msnoff noted U.S. interest in 
working together also to expand the number of relevant countries 
with the modified Small Quantities Protocol (SQP) in force, and 
provided Lombard the nonpaper from reftel para 13.  Lombard warned 
that with the departures from Vienna of his ambassador and himself 
in December 2009 and expected gaps of several weeks in their 
positions, the RSA mission would likely not be in a position to 
engage with us until mid-January. 
 
¶3.  (U) Ambassador raised the issue November 18 in a bilateral 
office call on Gumbi in his mission.  Gumbi confirmed that the RSA 
mission had already conveyed our nonpaper to Pretoria and that his 
successor and Lombard's had both been made aware of the issue.  He 
said RSA had no problem with cooperating on CSA outreach but that we 
needed to discuss strategy and tactics.  (See also below.) 
 
¶4.  (SBU) During the ensuing meetings of the IAEA Technical 
Assistance and Cooperation Committee (TACC) and Board of Governors 
(BoG) November 23-27, Msnoff and STATE/ISN colleagues acquainted RSA 
counselor-designate Lunga Bengu with the issue.  We expect Bengu 
back in mid-January to succeed Lombard, who said in the meeting his 
mission had not yet been instructed to engage and suggested an 
Einhorn-Minty call.  U.S. side took note and provided reftel 
nonpaper a third time to RSA side. 
 
Gumbi on Governance 
------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) In their November 18 bilateral, Gumbi (accredited as 
ambassador to Austria, Slovakia, and Slovenia and as PermRep to 
international organizations in Vienna) confirmed he would depart in 
December 2009 to a new post in Pretoria.  Without identifying a 
title, he said he would cover the UNSC, IAEA, and disarmament, 
including the CD in Geneva; he added that he might get the USA in 
his portfolio, too.  He expected to be back in Vienna for the June 
2010 IAEA Board of Governors meeting and the General Conference in 
September. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Ambassador drew on reftel para 12 points and emphasized 
South Africa's leadership position in the Non-Aligned Movement as an 
asset in promoting safeguards agreements.  Gumbi said that after 
thinking about our paper (which his mission had had for several 
days), what he had found missing were means for ensuring the Agency 
had the capacity to "deliver" on safeguards, as well as steps to 
"de-politicize" verification work and ensure its acceptance as a 
public good.  In the ensuing exchange Gumbi embarked thematically 
from the damaged credibility of nonproliferation claims after the 
Iraq case of 2002/3.  He touched on exclusive sourcing of safeguards 
technology from advanced nuclear nations and asserted that the IAEA 
relied on too few partners for analysis of environmental samples. 
(To the Ambassador's question, Gumbi acknowledged not knowing if any 
South African laboratories were contracted by the IAEA's Safeguards 
Analytical Laboratory, but he said "everyone needs to take 'full 
ownership'.") 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Finally, he critiqued at some length that the "governing 
element" was missing from the Board of Governors', and for that 
matter from the Secretariat's, interaction with countries of 
safeguards concern.  Instead of simply issuing statements amplifying 
what each Member State finds most of concern in the Director 
General's reports, as in the case of Iran, Gumbi went on, the Board 
should be providing "corrective" measures and incentives.  It was 
unfair for Member States to go on criticizing infractions and 
 
UNVIE VIEN 00000551  002 OF 002 
 
 
requiring the Secretariat to rectify situations without helping a 
state in question "meet our expectations."  To our dismay, Gumbi 
volunteered no thoughts on the thrust of the Ambassador's query and 
the nonpaper -- the identification of countries to lobby for CSA, AP 
or modified SQP adherence and the strategy for doing so. 
 
¶8. (U) Begin text of Ambassador Gumbi's official biography, from 
South African Mission, Vienna: 
 
Leslie Mbangambi Gumbi 
Permanent Representative 
South Africa 
 
Prior to joining the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic 
of South Africa in 1995, Ambassador Leslie Mbangambi Gumbi was, 
among others, a full time member of a national liberation movement, 
an NGO worker and a researcher in strategic studies.  In the latter 
capacity, Ambassador Gumbi authored several articles published in 
specialized professional journals and contributed chapters to two 
published books. 
 
From 1996 to 2000, Ambassador Gumbi was Counsellor at the South 
African Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York where he 
dealt with peacekeeping, disarmament and Security Council matters. 
In New York, he was also in drafting teams of various working groups 
and was appointed to several stewardship roles. 
 
In August 2000, Ambassador Gumbi was promoted to a Director's rank 
in the Department of Foreign Affairs.  In the period from 2000 to 
early 2003, Ambassador Gumbi successfully led several South African 
delegations to some major international and regional meetings and 
conferences.  In 2003, Ambassador Gumbi also served in the Third 
Party Verification Mechanism for the Implementation of the Peace and 
Security Agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of 
Congo. 
 
From February 2004 to August 2005, Ambassador Gumbi was Minister, 
Deputy Permanent Representative at the South African Permanent 
Mission to the United Nations Office and other International 
Organizations at Geneva.  He continued in this capacity to promote 
actively South Africa's interests in the United Nations disarmament, 
non-proliferation and arms control machinery within the multilateral 
system in Geneva, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the First 
Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the United 
Nations General Assembly. 
 
In September 2005, Ambassador Gumbi was appointed South Africa's 
Ambassador to Austria, Slovenia, and Slovakia as well as Permanent 
Representative to the United Nations Organizations in Vienna.  In 
2009, he was promoted to the rank of chief Director in the 
Department of Foreign Affairs. 
 
Ambassador Gumbi's main professional focus continues to be on 
peacekeeping, disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. 
During his recent speaking engagements in Europe and the United 
States of America on disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control 
Ambassador Gumbi made presentations on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty, nuclear weapons free zones and the nuclear fuel cycle. 
 
Ambassador Gumbi obtained his Master's Degree in Political Science 
and International Relations at Warsaw University in Poland.  He is 
married to Veronica Gumbi and has five children. 
 
End Text. 
 
 
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