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