VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMD #0976 1411157
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211157Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2577
INFO RUEHXP/ALL NATO POST COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0881
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 0728
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM PRIORITY 3087
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0731
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS MADRID 000976 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PA/WRA (KATHERINE BAKER) AND EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MOPS NATO PARM PREL SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS/LIMA TEXT 
 
REF: SECSTATE 66596 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  ESTHOFF and POLOFF made reftel points May 18 to 
MFA Disarmament Affairs Deputy Director General Ignacio 
Sanchez and MFA Counselor for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and 
Disarmament Carlos Torres, urging Spain to support U.S. 
positions as the international community charts the future of 
the Oslo Process to regulate cluster munitions.  Sanchez said 
that Spain would attend the May 24-25 Lima meeting and 
indicated that the Spanish delegation would be led by his 
direct superior, Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament 
Affairs Director General (A/S equivalent) Angel Lossada. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Sanchez suggested that different opinions still 
existed inside MFA and between MFA and MOD regarding the Oslo 
Process.  A final MFA-MOD coordination meeting would take 
place May 21, but Sanchez was nonetheless confident that he 
could predict the outlines of the Spanish position going into 
the Lima meeting.  Sanchez said that Spain continued to 
oppose a total ban on cluster munitions and thus had 
substantial problems with Norway's draft discussion text. 
Spain, which produces and deploys cluster munitions, believes 
that its domestically-produced cluster munitions are modern 
and relatively safe and thus should not be banned. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Sanchez also reiterated that Spain continues to 
believe that the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) 
remains the ideal venue to address the cluster munitions 
issue.  However, Spain recognizes that the pressure induced 
via the Oslo Process helps ensure that the CCW remains 
focused on the cluster munitions issue.  In this regard, 
Sanchez continued, Spain supports the cluster munitions text 
that Germany recently tabled at the CCW. 
LLORENS