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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 STATE 004610 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EWWT KCRM PBTS PHSA
SUBJECT: PIRACY: FIRST MEETING OF CONTACT GROUP CHARTS 
COURSE FOR COMBATING PIRACY 
 
REF: STATE 1223 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Pursuant to UNSCR 1851, the Contact Group 
on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) held its inaugural 
meeting on January 14 in New York. Twenty-four countries and 
five international organizations met to discuss - and came to 
agreement on the way ahead - on six focus areas dealing with 
the issue of piracy. These focus areas, which flow from the 
USG Counter-Piracy Action Plan (CPAP) include improving 
operational and intelligence support, establishing a 
counter-piracy coordination mechanism, strengthening judicial 
frameworks for arrest, prosecution, and detention of pirates, 
strengthening commercial shipping self-defense and other 
capabilities, pursuing improved diplomatic and public 
information efforts, and disrupting pirate financial 
operations.  To address these issues, the Contact Group 
agreed on a number of key points - standards for admission 
into the Contact Group, a name change to reflect a focus on 
counter-piracy off the coast of Somalia (rather than a focus 
on Somali pirates), the formation of working groups and work 
plans to operationalize the efforts of the Contact Group 
(and, by extension, both UNSCR 1851 and the USG CPAP), the 
selection of national leads for the working groups, the need 
to draw on existing international organizations, such as the 
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Egmont Group, to 
determine sources and uses of pirate finances, a commitment 
to a second meeting of the Contact Group in March 2009, and a 
robust communiqu (sent separately).  End Summary 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
U.S. Provides Situation Update on Piracy; Sets Out Objectives 
for First Contact Group Meeting 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Assistant Secretary Kimmitt opened the inaugural 
meeting of the Contact Group with a situational update on 
piracy incidents off the coast of Somalia.  He reported that 
incidents of piracy off the Horn of Africa grew significantly 
in 2008, with the likelihood of such attacks increasing in 
¶2009.  Kimmitt cited the number of reported attacks in 2008 
was 122, with 15 pirate attacks having taken place in 2009 
(as of January 12).  He noted that ransom payments totaling 
over $30 million have been paid to pirates in 2008 and these 
large amounts have encouraged additional pirate attacks.  He 
highlighted the negative effects of piracy on freedom of 
navigation, the increase in shipping insurance premiums along 
one of the world's most traveled routes, and the prospect of 
environmental disaster as ships fall prey to hostile intent. 
That said, Kimmitt noted that international efforts have 
started to make a difference, noting that only four of the 
thirty-two piracy attempts were successful from November 28 - 
January 12.  The Combined Maritime Force, NATO, the EU and 
countries on national tasking have undertaken counter-piracy 
 
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operations during the last six months.  Kimmitt highlighted 
the fact that over 65 ships from the navies of 15 countries 
have been involved in countering piracy off the coast of 
Somalia and coordination and information sharing have 
improved. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In opening statements by the Contact Group members, 
there was unanimity in the view that international collective 
action was necessary to stem the threat of piracy and the 
Contact Group was an ideal vehicle to coordinate these 
efforts.  Somalia's Permanent Representative Elmi Ahmed 
Dualeh conveyed thanks to the Contact Group and states that 
provide protection to humanitarian aid shipping, noting that 
unity of action will help discourage piracy.  With its basis 
grounded in UNSCR 1851, countries like China and Russia were 
vocal in their support of the formation of the Contact Group 
and its objectives of better coordination in areas like 
information sharing and protection of commercial shipping 
lanes.  On several occasions China noted that there should be 
a strong link between the Contact Group and the UNSC and that 
China supports international cooperation pursuant to UNSC 
resolution.  As many members pointed out, piracy has an 
international impact.  Greece noted its shipping interests - 
which represent seventeen percent of the world total - are 
looking for a solution to the scourge of piracy; India - 
which has ten percent of the world's seafarers - pointed to 
the importance of the Contact Group's efforts to focus on 
this issue. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Contact Group members wrestled with the question of 
how to address the issue of Somalia's political situation as 
it related to piracy.  All agreed that piracy was a symptom 
of Somalia's weak central authority.  A number of countries 
attempted to pull piracy into the larger debate on Somalia, 
but A/S Kimmitt reminded the group that the mandate from 
UNSCR 1851 limited the focus to piracy alone, and that the 
larger issue of Somalia would be handled by organizations 
such as the U.N. International Contact Group on Somalia. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
Focus Areas One and Two: Improving Operational and 
Intelligence support to Counter-Piracy efforts and 
Establishing a Counter-Piracy Coordination Mechanism 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) In the first two sessions, the Contact Group noted 
the importance of coordinating both intelligence and 
information among the military, civilian and industry 
stakeholders.  It also viewed these focus areas as two of the 
most important efforts the Contact Group would undertake. 
Acting on the suggestion of German and French 
representatives, the Contact Group agreed to merge focus 
areas one and two into one working group.  UK Foreign and 
Commonwealth Office's Director of International Security Paul 
Johnston volunteered the United Kingdom to co-chair this 
working group with the International Maritime Organization. 
In line with the UNSCR mandate establishing an international 
coordination mechanism, Johnston also lent UK support to 
 
STATE 00004610  003 OF 005 
 
 
stand up a regional counter-piracy center.  There was 
disagreement on the advisability of industry involvement 
within the coordinating mechanism, with the U.S./UK 
supporting such involvement and the French delegation 
strongly opposed.  Johnston pledged to prepare and circulate 
a paper for comments that would deal with counter-piracy 
information sharing and coordination mechanisms and would 
offer several suggestions on the way forward on these issues. 
 He offered to host a working group meeting in London before 
the next Contact Group meeting. 
 
¶6. (SBU) On improving coordination of intelligence and 
information, several members voiced concerns on the terms of 
reference and rules of engagement (ROE) associated with 
counter-piracy operations.  Yemen's UN Permanent 
Representative - referencing the death of a Yemeni fisherman 
during a Russian-conducted counter-piracy operation - 
emphasized the need to understand the ROE and avoid such 
tragic mistakes in the future.  Russia's Deputy Permanent 
Representative Iliya Rogachev challenged this version of what 
happened, stating that a Russian frigate responded to a Dutch 
ship's distress call that it was under attack from pirates. 
In recounting the events, Rogachev questioned why a fisherman 
would be in a high-speed boat chasing a Dutch ship.  Rogachev 
promised a thorough investigation, which the Yemeni 
representative looked forward to reviewing. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Focus Area 3: Strengthening Judicial Frameworks 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7. (SBU) In the third session, the United States began the 
discussion of legal issues by noting that a key aspect of 
fighting piracy is the effective apprehension, prosecution 
and detention of suspects, that we should not be in a 
position where suspects are apprehended and let go for want 
of a venue for prosecution or that piracy suspects are 
apprehended only to remain on coalition vessels for extended 
periods of time for want of a venue to effectively prosecute 
them, that we should all have laws criminalizing piracy, that 
the burden of prosecution should not fall on one or two 
countries, and that a working group should be set up to focus 
on five issues: 
 
-- the extent to which Contact Group countries have 
established criminal jurisdiction that covers piracy on the 
high seas and armed robbery in Somali territorial waters; 
-- the circumstances under which such countries are in a 
position to prosecute suspected pirates, from policy, 
practical, and capacity points of view; 
-- for Contact Group countries engaged in counter-piracy 
operations in the region, the extent to which they have or 
are considering concluding arrangements with States in the 
region concerning delivery and prosecution of suspects; 
-- for Contact Group countries in the region in a position to 
prosecute suspected pirates, their requirements to strengthen 
capacity to prosecute and incarcerate, as well as legal 
requirements that other countries capturing suspects should 
 
STATE 00004610  004 OF 005 
 
 
be aware of (such as evidentiary requirements); and 
-- the extent to which Contact Group members can make 
available financial and other practical support to assist 
other countries with prosecutions. 
 
¶8. (SBU) There was widespread agreement on judicial issues. 
Specifically, there was broad agreement  that a working group 
on these issues was necessary, that it should have a broad 
mandate (including the issues identified by the United 
States), that work on these issues was urgent both because of 
the specialized nature of legal issues surrounding piracy and 
because countries have a wide variety of legal circumstances 
(both in terms of domestic law and their respective 
international obligations), that the working group should 
focus its attention on practical arrangements, and that 
Denmark should lead the group with assistance from other 
countries and UNODC.  A notable area of disagreement was 
whether an international tribunal/court should be established 
in the longer-term to deal with piracy prosecutions, with 
Germany favoring such a mechanism and others (including 
France, the UK, and China) strongly opposing this mechanism. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
Focus Area Four: Strengthening Commercial Shipping 
Self-Defense Capabilities 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) U.S. Maritime Administrator (MARAD) Sean Connaughton 
noted the important role the shipping industry plays, 
emphasizing civilian and military authorities can not tackle 
this issue alone.  He highlighted industry's 
capacity-building efforts in self-protection, and mentioned 
the shipping industry's recent efforts to compile a best 
practices guide to help minimize pirate attacks.  He also 
cited the EU's website, which contains useful suggestions for 
industry.  Connaughton thought the formation of a Commercial 
Industry Working Group communicating directly with industry 
would send a strong signal that the international community 
is serious about cooperating with industry to thwart piracy. 
International Maritime Organization (IMO) noted its efforts 
to work with commercial shipping over the past three decades 
and offered to support the working group efforts, stating its 
experience and work would complement this focus area.  The 
U.S. agreed to co-lead the working group with the 
International Maritime Administration to build on the 
existing efforts of industry. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
Focus Area Five: Diplomatic and Public Information efforts 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Noting the importance of creating a strong, unified 
international image and hitting the target audiences, Egypt's 
Wafaa Bassem, Assistant Foreign Minister for Cabinet Affairs, 
offered Egypt as leader of this working group.  She said it 
was important to show the link between piracy and the weak 
central government of Somalia, as well as craft the public 
message to be preventative in nature which could help 
 
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discourage people in the region from turning to piracy. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
Focus Area Six: Disrupting Pirate Financial Operations 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) After debating the focus of the piracy finance 
question, the Contact Group reached agreement that it would 
call on existing international financial mechanisms, such as 
the FATF and the Egmont Group, to trace financial flows that 
fund piracy efforts and request these groups report back to 
the Contact Group.  Concerns centered on the difficulty and 
sensitivity of tracing pirate-destined funds or ransoms paid, 
as it touched on the sensitive nature of financial 
transactions.  Bassem said it was important to gather expert 
opinions on legal controls and that these efforts do not 
encroach on other on-going efforts to trace financial 
transactions, i.e. terrorist financing. 
 
---------------- 
Press Conference 
---------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Following the meeting, representatives of the 
Contact Group held a press conference highlighting the 
international cooperation on finding common solutions to 
piracy.  A/S Kimmitt pointed to this meeting and the group 
assembled as a clear show of the international community's 
resolve to work together to combat the increasing threat that 
piracy off the coast of Somalia presents to the safety of 
mariners, to commerce, to the delivery of critical 
humanitarian assistance to the Somali people, and to 
international security.  There were no contentious questions 
asked. 
 
-------------------------- 
Next Steps and New Members 
-------------------------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) The Contact Group agreed to hold its next meeting 
in March, with the location still to be determined.  Well 
ahead of this next meeting, working groups will meet to 
address the issues -- and questions -- which arose at the 
Contact Group meeting.  Working groups will likely convene in 
the lead country's capital.  The Contact Group also reached 
consensus on a new membership policy, offering participation 
to any nation or international organization making tangible 
contributions to counter-piracy efforts or any country 
significantly affected by piracy off the coast of Somalia. 
Under these criteria the Contact Group admitted four new 
member countries and one organization - Belgium, Norway, 
Portugal, Sweden, and the Arab League. 
RICE