CWC IMPLEMENTATION: SLOW PROCESS UNDERWAY IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAR ES SALAAM 001501

SIPDIS

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ISN/CB FOR ESIDLER; IO/UNP FOR BHARRIS AND DVANBRANDT; USUN
FOR EBRUNO; AF/E FOR BYODER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/02/2016
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC OPCW CBW AF TZ
SUBJECT: CWC IMPLEMENTATION: SLOW PROCESS UNDERWAY IN
TANZANIA

REF: A. STATE 134200


B. DAR ES SALAAM 01425

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires D. Purnell Delly for reasons 1.4(b) an
d (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Tanzania believes it is on track to submit
draft legislation implementing its obligations under the
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) before the Executive
Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW) meets on November 7, officials told Poloff
August 29. However, given the many steps of the legislative
process, this belief may be overly optimistic. Tanzania
submitted its national plan to the OPCW in April 2006. The
plan established an interim authority which will become
permanent through passage of the implementing legislation,
making the legislation a crucial step in the process. END
SUMMARY

Interlocutors
--------------

2. (U) Irene Mkwawa-Kasyanju, Senior Foreign Service
Officer in the Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, arranged an August 29 meeting with: Poloff; Grace

M. Mfinanga, Principal Parliamentary Draftsman in the
Attorney General's Chambers in the Ministry of Justice and
Constitutional Affairs; Agnes Ivor Ndumbati, Assistant
Parliamentary Draftsman in the Attorney General's Chambers in
the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs; and James
Gideon Kingu, Research and Development Officer at the Defence
Forces Headquarters in the Ministry of Defence and National
Service.

National Authority and National Plan: The good news
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3. (U) Government of Tanzania (GOT) officials said Tanzania
submitted its National Plan, which included the creation of
an interim authority, to the OPCW in April 2006. GOT
officials confirmed that the interim National Authority is
operating and that the transition to a permanent National
Authority is incorporated in the draft legislation.

Legislation status: Underway with all on board
-------------- --

4. (U) Mfinanga confirmed that the GOT submitted draft
legislation to the OPCW in October 2005 and that the OPCW
provided comments to the GOT in November 2005. Mfinanga said
the October 2005 draft is being used as the framework for
legislation but that the GOT wants to incorporate the OPCW's
comments and solicit comments from other parts of the GOT in
order to improve the draft legislation. Mfinanga said the
timing of passing CWC-implementing legislation depends on
other work before the Ministry of Justice, including other
legislation to be drafted, and stressed that those involved
with the CWC-implementing legislation were also busy
preparing for the meeting of National Authorities in Africa
to be held in Dar es Salaam October 16 and 17. Poloff
suggested that Tanzania may want to make progress toward
fulfilling its implementation obligations prior to hosting
the October meeting, but the GOT officials seemed unconvinced
that timing was an issue.


5. (U) All GOT officials present disputed the OPCW comment
that the Ministry of Justice had not been involved in
drafting the October 2005 legislation and, further, that the
Ministry of Justice had told the OPCW that the October 2005
draft legislation had "no status" (reftel A). Mfinanga said
the Ministry of Justice had been involved in drafting the
legislation sent to OPCW in October 2005 and denied that the
Ministry had cast aspersions on the status of the draft text.


Legislative process: Only just begun
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6. (U) Mfinanga said the interim National Authority has
submitted a Cabinet paper describing the legislation and
seeking the Cabinet's permission to draft it. Anticipating
such permission to be forthcoming, Mfinanga said a working
group of four attorneys, two from the Ministry of Justice and
two from the Ministry of Defence, have been working on a
revised draft. Mfinanga expects the Cabinet to call for a
defense of the cabinet paper within two weeks of August 29
and said instructions regarding drafting the legislation are
expected two weeks following that, bringing the time frame
for Cabinet approval to late September. Mfinanga said
preparing draft legislation will take two to three months so
that the first of three readings in Parliament could occur in
February 2007, with the second and third readings waiting for
the next Parliamentary session, in April 2007.



7. (C) Separate inquiries to the office of the Cabinet
Secretariat revealed that the Cabinet paper on the

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CWC-implementing legislation was received August 30, the day
following the meeting with Poloff. The Cabinet Secretariat,
a panel of experts, is scheduled to meet September 8 to
discuss the paper on the CWC-implementing legislation and
offer any changes before sending it to an inter-ministerial
committee of Permanent Secretaries. That committee will
review the Cabinet paper and refer it to the Cabinet
Ministers, but there is no precise time frame for this
process.

Optimism for draft legislation by November
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8. (SBU) Poloff noted that the OPCW will provide its
Executive Council with a progress report during its meeting
November 7 to 10 and that the GOT should submit an
inter-ministerial-approved draft of legislation prior to this
meeting. All GOT officials present told Poloff that they
would meet this deadline, but offered no clarifying
information regarding how the process could be accelerated.
Mfinanga said the GOT would share draft legislation with the
OPCW in November, but not with others as it will be
confidential until its first reading in Parliament which will

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not occur until 2007.

Assistance with implementation obligations
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9. (U) Mfinanga and Kingu appreciated the USG offer of
assistance with meeting implementation obligations,
particularly with drafting implementing legislation, and
asked for particulars of such assistance. However, both said
that the Permanent Secretaries of their ministries are the
proper authorities to respond to the offer of assistance.


10. (C) COMMENT: Post's experience in obtaining draft
legislation on another topic (trafficking in persons) leads
us to expect that the CWC-implementing draft legislation
might not be shared with stakeholders until its first reading
in Parliament. While the confidential status of legislation
in the early stages of the process makes it difficult to
provide assistance in drafting it, Post was assured that
after the first reading in Parliament, comments and
suggestions would be welcome.
DELLY