Cablegate: Uranium for Sale in Kampala, Uganda

VZCZCXYZ0009
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKM #1188 2401348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY ADXCDE41B WSC9490-623)
O 271348Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0659

UNCLAS KAMPALA 001188

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

C O R R E C T E D COPY (SENSITIVE CAPTION ADDED)

STATE FOR INS/CTR AND PM/ISO/PMAT
INFO DS/IP/AF, T, DS, INR, IO/T, INR/SPM, PM/ISO, PMAT,
S/CT, S/P, S/ES-O, INL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC KCRM KNNP MNUC PARM PTER UG
SUBJECT: URANIUM FOR SALE IN KAMPALA, UGANDA

REF: SECSTATE 163201

1. (SBU) Post wishes to alert the Department and Washington
agencies per reftel that it has received a report indicating a
potential incident of illicit trafficking in nuclear and/or
radiological materials. This report came to post's attention
via walk in interview. Information concerning this report was
relayed telephonically to PMAT at 0830 (EST) on August 27, 2008.

2. (SBU) Details of the incident follow:

A) Current location of material: Unknown location in
Kampala, Uganda.
B) Transport status of material: Stationary. How secure is
it: Unknown. What does the host government plan to do with
it: RSO has notified the Ugandan Police Force, Counter
Terrorism Unit. It is not yet known what they plan to do with
the information.
C) Assessment of the likelihood that the appropriate
authorities can/will secure the material: Unlikely.
D) If in transit, means of transport: Not in transit.
E) Intended destination of material: Material is being
offered for sale, the final destination is unknown.
F) Routing of material, if via multiple ports: Across
DRC/Ugandan border.
G) Supplier and/or origination point of material: Sellers
origin is Ugandan. Origination point of material is a nuclear
power plant or reactor in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) that is no longer operational.
H) Type of material: Liquid uranium. Photocopies of the
canister are available. Contact information is listed in
para. three.
I) Date and time of incident: Unknown.
J) Source of the report: Walk-in.
K) If an alarm, technical information: Not applicable.
L) What else if anything was being smuggled with the
material: Unknown.
M) Specific place where alarm or incident occurred: Not
applicable.
N) Additional details of walk-in interview: The SOURCE is a
Kenyan/Swedish citizen who states that he and a friend were
approached as possible buyers of the uranium. Purchase price
is 25 million USD. The SOURCE states that he contacted the
Ugandan Minster of Security, Amama Mbabazi, several months
ago to report the existence of the uranium but has gotten no
response from the Ugandan authorities to date. The SOURCE
advised that he is trying to pass the information to the
authorities and has been stringing the buyers along with a
plan to export the uranium in a coffee shipment headed to
Europe, through an export business that he owns, Begmas
Export International, based in Sweden. The SOURCE provided
documents that he obtained from the sellers with a picture of
the container and descriptive information of the contents.
The documentation advises that the material is U 235 H L
81.35' ans and being kept in an aluminum container. RSO has
passed this information to the Ugandan Police Force, Counter
Terrorism Unit. RSO section will take no further action
without additional guidance from Washington, DC.

3. (SBU) Contact ARSO Kemmi L. Sadler: class email:
sadlerkl@state.sgov.gov; office: 256-414-30-6207, unclas
email: sadlerk@state.gov.
BROWNING

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