CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): REPORT ON OPCW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 000494

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AC/CB, NP/CBM, VC/CCB, L/ACV, IO/S
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISP
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (GOLDMAN)
NSC FOR CHUPA
WINPAC FOR LIEPMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2014
TAGS: PARM PREL LY CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): REPORT ON OPCW
TECHNICAL EXPERTS VISIT TO LIBYA


Classified By: Eric M. Javits, US Ambassador to the OPCW for reasons 1.
5 (b) and (d).

This is CWC-27-04.


1. (C) Horst Reeps, head of the Verification Division of
the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
(OPCW),provided a February 25 read-out to the U.S. and U.K.
delegations on the Technical Secretariat (TS) visit to Libya
on February 16-23. Reeps said the objectives were to assist
Libya with its initial declaration, its creation of a
National Authority, its drafting of national legislation, and
to clarify logistical and other administrative issues
regarding Libya's hosting of future TS inspections.


2. (C) Reeps reported that as of February 23, Libya's
initial declaration to be presented on March 5 was 95 percent
complete. Modules on industry (no scheduled chemical
production facilities, eleven "Other Chemical Production
Facilities"),storage facilities, and chemical weapon
munition destruction (the latter provided by the UK and faxed
back to AC/CB) were complete, while that of the three CW
Production Facilities (Rabta building 17a, 17b, and the
filling station) and chemical weapon agent destruction plan
were nearly complete. The declaration is currently in
English, but will be submitted to the TS in Arabic. Del reps
requested a copy of the English declaration held by the TS,
but Reeps said he could not obtain a copy for either the U.S.
or the UK without alerting unnecessary attention to the
request.


3. (C) Reeps also reported that two members of the TS
Technical Assistance Visit (TAV) team remained in Libya to
monitor the munition destruction as agreed in the plan
negotiated between Libya and the TS. The 3000 unfilled
munitions were transferred to Al Jufra, and a three-person
inspection team will arrive in Libya on February 26 for an
initial inspection of Al Jufra. They will stay to monitor
destruction of the unfilled munitions, which will begin
February 27. Reeps reported that Libya chose to use the
destruction by bulldozer approach rather than by hydraulic
press because the former would destroy the unfilled munitions
faster.


4. (C) Reeps reported that two members of the TAV visited
Rabta. Discussion centered on whether the difluor (DF) line
in the civilian part of building 17 needed to be destroyed.
The TS opinion is that the DF line must go, although much
discussion is on-going regarding conversion of the remaining
areas. Reeps relayed that the Office of the Legal Advisor
and Ralf Trapp, special assistant to the Deputy DG, were
considering favorably a future Libyan conversion request.
Reeps said that he believed that when the CWC was drafted,
this situation was not taken into account, so that conversion
in cases such as this should be possible.


5. (C) Reeps reported that TS legal expert Lisa Tabassi was
presented an "empty book," and that future visits will be
needed to work on drafting implementing legislation. He
predicted that one of the Libyan OCPFs will be selected for
inspection this year. Currently, the TS estimates that there
is circa 25 tons of CW agent, but final amounts will vary due
to leakage and other issues. Libya still is considering
incinerating its agent and precursors, but Reeps believes
that this is impractical and that a better approach would be
hydrolyzation with bleach followed by entombment in concrete
pyramids. Reeps noted with amusement that a Polish company
offered to ship the agent to Poland for destruction there.
He also noted that in a storage area on the outskirts of
Tripoli, there is sufficient equipment to set up two
additional production lines. The equipment had been intended
for the CW program, but was dual use and the TS is
considering what needed to be destroyed.


6. (C) Reeps reported that there will be two teams in Libya
from March 11-22. One will be at Rabta, the other will be
doing an inventory of CW agent and precurors to verify
Libya's declared quantities. He also supplied Del reps with
copies of the following documents, all faxed to AC/CB on
February 25:
-- the Libyan request for a Technical Assistance Visit,
-- the list of Libyan and TS participants in the February 17
meeting,
-- the TS Libya Situation Reports,
-- the CWC Italian Delegation list of participations in the
February 16 meetings with Libya,
-- the draft agreed plan for the verification of category
three chemical weapons,
-- the general plan for the destruction of chemical weapons,
-- the draft agreed detailed plan for the destruction of
category three chemical weapons at Al Jufra, and
-- a memorandum from Reeps to the DG and the DDG regarding
the on-going destruction of category three chemical weapons
in Libya.


7. (U) Javits sends.
SOBEL