LEBANON: UNIIIC ATTEMPTING TO COMPLETE WORK BY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000281

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/21/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER LE SY
SUBJECT: LEBANON: UNIIIC ATTEMPTING TO COMPLETE WORK BY
JUNE


Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman. Reason: Section 1.4 (b)
.

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) In a 2/20 meeting, Peter Nicholson, chief
investigator for UNIIIC, informed emboff that Commissioner
Brammertz has instructed his staff to accelerate their pace
in an effort to complete the investigation by the June 15
mandate expiration. Although Brammertz believes it is now
likely that the UN Security Council will extend the current
mandate, he wants to finish the investigation before he is
scheduled to leave in June. While the ever-conservative
Brammertz has been telling his UN chain-of-command that the
investigation is "80 percent complete," Nicholson believes
they are much further along than that. He acknowledged there
are several "very difficult" witnesses still to be
interviewed or re-interviewed, but Nicholson, as well as his
senior investigator, Rosemary Nidiry, were cautiously
optimistic that the major components of the case are
approaching completion. Additional technical requests were
made to the U.S. and these have been transmitted to
Washington. Nidiry will be in Washington next week for
interviews and consultations with U.S. agencies. End summary.


2. (SBU) Emboff met with Peter Nicholson, chief
investigator, and Rosemary Nidiry, senior investigator, at
the visibly busy UNIIIC headquarters in Monteverde, east of
Beirut, on February 20. Nicholson is scheduled to return to
his position at the International Criminal Court in early
March, while Nidiry will leave her position with the
Commission by early April. Emboff was introduced to
Nicholson's replacement, Glenn Rowley, who is expected to
remain with the Commission if an extension is granted past
June 15. Nidiry's replacement has not yet been named.

ACCELERATED PACE
--------------


3. (C) Following a discussion of requests to meet with
several U.S. agencies regarding technical assistance, Peter
Nicholson stated that the investigation is "proceeding quite
well" along two fronts: actual interviews and evidence
analysis, and the conversion of a significant quantity of
evidence and findings into a highly structured data base for
eventual use by a Special Tribunal, should it be established.
Both Nicholson and Nidiry referred several times to
Commissioner Brammertz' recent acceleration of the
investigation. Nicholson, in particular, noted that
Brammertz is committed to trying to wrap up the "core
investigation" by June 15. Two challenges must be overcome:
the valuable time spent preparing and defending UNIIIC's
March 21 interim report to the Security Council, and more
importantly, arranging and completing an unidentified series
of critical interviews (and re-interviews) that are necessary
to fill the last remaining gaps in the case. Nicholson said
he could not be sure whether they would finish by June, but
the entire staff is making every effort to do so.


4. (C) That said, Nicholson said that Brammertz will ask
the UN for an extension of UNIIIC's mandate past June, if
only because it has become increasingly doubtful that the
Special Tribunal will be sufficiently established early
enough to both receive the significant amount of
evidence/findings, and to complete any facets of the
investigation that may remain outstanding. Nicholson
emphasized that it was essential that there be no "void"
between the closing of the investigation and a fully
functional Special Tribunal. He implied that custody of the
evidentiary material and its preparation for prosecution was
too sensitive to be "warehoused" for an indefinite period of
time and under indeterminate custodianship.


5. (C) Commenting on his imminent departure from the
Commission, Nicholson said he was confident that his
replacement was "top caliber" and would remain with the
Commission past the current June 15 deadline if requested.
He said that all employment contracts were now being written
with that option in mind, but he also ruefully noted that
dealing with the UN Secretariat's human resources bureaucracy
remained a tedious affair. With regard to Brammertz himself,
Nicholson said it remained an "open question" whether the
UNIIIC Commissioner would remain past June, as there were
several "difficult issues" still in play. It was clear that
Nicholson hoped that Brammertz, if he desired, would be given

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the chance to close the gap and deliver UNIIIC's results to
an up-and-running Tribunal. But for the present, Brammertz
was continuing to drive the pace as if he would depart in
four months.


6. (C) Although Nicholson avoided specifics, it was evident
that the March 21 interim report would be quite pedestrian,
while the primary goal of the entire Commission staff was now
the June 15 final report. Nicholson did say that those
objectives may change depending on what the Security Council
decides, but for now, they were running on a 120 day
countdown.


7. (C) Nidiry explained that she hoped that as many items
of technical assistance as the Commission requested last
October would be made available, either on her trip to
Washington next week, or as soon after as possible. She
implied that if the technical assistance were not soon made
available, there may not be sufficient time to incorporate it
into the Commission's final findings. Nidiry, who will
probably be making her last visit to Washington before she
leaves the Commission in April, said she would be extremely
flexible if Washington wanted her to remain for additional or
unscheduled consultations. (Note: Nidiry also stated she
would be hand-carrying storage devices that would contain
imagery taken from CCTV cameras near the scene of the late
November assassination of Minister of Industry Pierre Gemayel
that required enhancement. A list of additional imagery
requests was also given to emboff. This list has been
forwarded to Washington. End note.)
FELTMAN