VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLU #0519/01 1441108
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 241108Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY LUANDA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4012

C O N F I D E N T I A L LUANDA 000519 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO PM/WRA EPATTERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2017 
TAGS: PARM PGOV PREL KHDP PINR AO
SUBJECT: ANGOLA: AGING ARSENAL THREATENS CIVILIANS 
 
Classified By: CDA FRANCISCO FERNANDEZ FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Recent visits to Angolan Air Force 
ammunition storage facilities found inadequate storage 
practices for the vast remnants of its Soviet-era arsenal. 
The Angolan military's limited stockpile destruction capacity 
has prompted them to turn to NGOs such as HALO Trust for 
assistance.  HALO is receiving access to and destroying parts 
of the FAN's ammunition stockpiles, and is also poised to 
perform weapons destruction for the Army and National Police. 
 However, the USG must also work to provide stockpile 
security and management training to the GRA to increase their 
knowledge and control of the risks in their ageing arsenal, 
including hundreds of time-expired MANPADS.  End summary. 
 
Angola's Ammo: The Good, the Bad, and the Dangerous 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
¶2. (C) Eric Patterson (PM/WRA), William Alberque (Defense 
Threat Reduction Agency) and Poloff visited HALO Trust work 
sites at Angolan Air Force (FAN) bases in Cabinda and Luanda 
on April 23 and 24, 2007.  The team found insufficient 
storage and security of high-explosive ammunition and weapons 
systems in both locations.  Although the military side of 
Luanda's International Airport contains some large, orderly 
and inventoried ammunition warehouses, it also has large 
piles of bombs, guided missile ammunition, and other military 
equipment lying in the sun or in unlocked and rusting 
shipping containers.  A civilian school stands less than 50 
yards from the unfenced ammunition storage area.  The 
airport's outer perimiter fence has not deterred pilferers 
from the adjoining neighborhood; the backs were removed and 
silk parachutes cut out of fuel air bombs lying in a pile 
near the fence. 
 
¶3. (U) The FAN's lack of capacity for safe weapons 
destruction and equipment necessary for destruction has led 
them to seek outside assistance to destroy unwanted items in 
their arsenal.  HALO Trust's Weapons and Ammunition Disposal 
(WAD) Team has developed a strong relationship with the FAN 
though building on trust from past successes in small-scale 
weapons cutting programs and its extensive humanitarian 
demining program in Angola.  In 2006 the FAN asked HALO to 
destroy ammunition and weapons systems at eight bases and 
military airports; that request has since expanded to 15 
locations. 
 
HALO's Strong Relationship Pays Off 
------------------------------------ 
¶4. (C) HALO's WAD Team is working with the FAN to identify 
and destroy the FAN's priority destruction items, namely 
obsolete aircraft bombs, missiles, and propellant.  The visit 
confirmed that USG-funded HALO Trust is receiving access to 
FAN munitions, weapons, and high explosive stocks.  They 
report that hundreds of MANPADS are stored at Luanda Airport; 
some are time expired, but only a few dozen are currently 
slated for destruction.  Note: HALO continues to push the FAN 
for destruction of such items.  End note. 
 
¶5. (C) However, bureaucracy can impede HALO's identification, 
removal and destruction of ordinance.  Their first step is a 
thorough site survey and inventory of items for destruction, 
as the FAN does not have an accurate national inventory of 
its weapons stockpiles.  Permission must then be received to 
destroy identified items.  At times plans are made to destroy 
certain weapons systems, such as a small stockpile of clearly 
inoperable MANPADS stored at Luanda's airport, but clearance 
to proceed with the destruction is denied.  Permission is 
also required to use Central Demolition Sites (CDS).  The CDS 
in Luanda and Cabinda had to be cleared of unexploded 
ordinance spread during previous incorrectly executed 
demolitions conducted by the Angolan military before they 
could be safely used by HALO.  Note: Luanda's CDS is located 
far outside the city; given the highly explosive items slated 
for destruction and Luanda's legendary traffic jams, all 
movement to the CDS must take place at night.  End note. 
 
¶6. (C) HALO's WAD teams have a high-level working partnership 
with the FAN.  In Cabinda, FAN airmen helped dismantle 
missile launchers and Field Grade FAN officers were on site 
to oversee and facilitate the process.  At one point a 
Lieutenant Colonel was shoveling sand in the demolition pit 
to help speed things up.  The FAN also airlifted HALO trucks, 
a crane and other equipment necessary to conduct demolitions 
to Cabinda. 
 
¶7. (U) HALO has also met with the Angolan Army's National 
Director of Weapons and Ammunition to plan a large-scale 
destruction of excess weapons and ammunition.  The Army is 
conducting a nation-wide inventory of all government 
stockpiles, and cooperation with HALO is pending the 
completion of this inventory.  The National Police also plans 
to use HALO WAD teams to destroy weapons during their planned 
National Disarmament Campaign, although exact dates and form 
of that campaign remain unclear. 
 
Cracking the Nut: The Path Forward on USG Priorities 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶8. (C) There appears to be tremendous scope for Physical 
Security and Stockpile Management (PSSM) cooperation between 
the USG and the Angolan military, and such assistance is part 
of the USG,s mil-mil workplan for Angola.  HALO is already 
providing computer and software assistance to help the FAN 
inventory their stockpiles, and also agreed push the idea of 
the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA) PSSM training to 
the FAN and Army.  HALO will continue weapons destruction at 
15 FAN sites, focusing on aircraft bombs, missiles, and other 
explosive remnants of war, while encouraging the FAN to 
expand its destruction of items such as MANPADS.  Note: 
Following the Patterson visit, PM/WRA approved funding to 
HALO for a second USG funded WAD team in Angola.  End note. 
 
¶9. (C) PM/WRA is working with the Embassy and DHS to offer 
the GRA a MANPADS Assistance Visit.  DTRA is also exploring 
providing multinational PSSM training to the GRA, in 
collaboration with NATO partners who have positive working 
relationships with the Angolan military, such as Belgium and 
Portugal.  The Belgian DATT told Patterson and Alberque that 
they receive responses on mil-mil cooperation within two days 
of submitting proposals, and also stated that they send two 
Angolan military personnel per year to Belgium for weapons 
decommissioning training.  Working with these countries could 
allow us to speed up discussions of these issues between the 
USG and GRA. 
 
¶10. (C) Comment: MANPADS destruction is clearly a USG 
priority, one that the Angolans do not yet share, despite the 
fact that Angola,s long civil war resulted in more 
MANPADS-related crashes of civilian and humanitarian aircraft 
than almost any other theater worldwide.  HALO's productive 
working relationship with the FAN, Army, and National Police 
is making progress in the destruction of dangerous 
stockpiles, including outdated MANPADS, and they are 
cautiously hopeful they will be able to destroy a few hundred 
MANPADS and other stand-off weapons (e.g. S-5 rockets) over 
the next year.  Post believes that a large-scale offer of a 
gov-gov purchase of the most advanced MANPADS may not be 
welcomed by the GRA at this time, and such an offer could 
raise suspicions, halt the progress HALO is making on the 
issue, and slow the overall progress of the USG's mil-mil 
workplan.  However, Post has agreed to revisit the issue in 6 
months.  End comment. 
FERNANDEZ