CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP UP FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000280

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2018
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP UP FOR
WEEK ENDING MARCH 21, 2008

REF: A) THE HAGUE 264 B) 2007 AMMAN 4578

Classified By: Deputy Permanent Representative Janet E. Beik for reason
s 1.4 (b) and (d)

This is CWC-13-08.

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Preparations for the Second Review
Conference (RevCon) continued, with much of the work
behind the scenes. The UK chair of the RevCon
working group is revising the draft report and
proposed informal daily meetings beginning March 28
to discuss the text. The March 18 meeting of
Permanent-Five (P-5) ambassadors was
uncharacteristically frank in discussing how to deal
with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). (Del note:
although the OPCW is not a UN organization, many of
the UN groups, both formal and informal, are active
here.) The U.S. delegation also met with the PAO and
OPCW public relations director, the Lithuanian
ambassador, and the Indian delegation to discuss
RevCon issues. The OPCW's Host Country Committee met
with the municipality of The Hague on parking.


2. (SBU) Teams of U.S. and UK representatives met
with the Technical Secretariat (TS) March 19-20 to go
through the Iraqi draft declaration for a final set
of recommendations to the Iraqi government. There
was no news on when Iraq will accede to the
convention, but the TS believes it will likely happen
before or during the Review Conference next month.

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P-5 MEETING
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3. (SBU) Russian Ambassador Gevorgian hosted a
meeting of the P-5 ambassadors on March 18 to discuss
universality (the traditional topic for these
periodic meetings) and the Review Conference. The
group agreed to encourage the countries close to
accession (Lebanon, Iraq, Bahamas, Dominican
Republic, Guinea Bissau) but did not see any
immediate action with regard to the other countries
remaining outside the convention. Although the French
had planned to host a seminar on universality
focusing on the Middle East during their EU
presidency (July - December 2008),they have decided
that the time is not yet right.


4. (SBU) British Ambassador Parker, chair of the
RevCon working group, outlined four issues
specifically of concern to the P-5:
ensuring a balanced, neutral text on universaity;
including reference to UN Security Council esolution
1540 and the OPCW's contributions to iternational
counter-terrorism and non-proliferaton efforts;
strengthening national implementation; and
maintaining an appropriate role for the OPC in
international cooperation. Ambassador Javit
underscored that we want an outcome as strong o
stronger than the first Review Conference, and he
group agreed. French Ambassador Gaussot noted the
Paris Seminar on March 25-26 would focus on on-
proliferation and terrorism.


5. (C) In anunusually candid discussion of the Non-
Aligned ovement, Amb. Gevorgian offered a personal
analyis that opposition to the inclusion of
terrorism on the RevCon agenda likely stemmed from
developig countries' general objection to the
Security Cuncil resolution enforcing legal

obligations, even on non-states parties to the
convention. Chinese Ambassador Xue agreed, noting
that many countries do not want the Security Council
-- or the P-5 -- dominating other organizations. She
felt a lower profile and "statesmanship" could lead
to a reasonable discussion of the terrorism issue and
urged her colleagues to focus on the practical
aspects of Resolution 1540.


6. (C) Amb. Gevorgian noted the NAM role has created
two camps heading into the RevCon, with the NAM
emphasizing destruction and others non-proliferation.
Amb. Xue commented that the NAM is actually quite
weak here; many countries are not present and most
are not knowledgeable about the issues. She said an
important role that the small group of activist NAM
leaders plays is to bring in the smaller countries
and make them feel part of the group. China observes
the NAM meetings and will work to achieve balance
between destruction and non-proliferation, with a
broader goal of maintaining balance among all "four
pillars" of the convention. The ambassadors all
agreed that north-south polarization of the
Conference must be avoided.

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PLANNING FOR PRESS AT THE REVIEW CONFERENCE
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7. (SBU) On March 18, Del reps met with Jim Foster
(PAO) and Astrid Bharos (Senior Press Assistant) of
the Embassy's Public Diplomacy Office. Subsequently,
Amb. Javits and Del reps met with Michael Luhan
(Head, OPCW Media and Public Affairs). In these
meetings, Del reps briefed Foster and Bharos on the
RevCon and enlisted their support for handling any
RevCon-related press inquiries. Luhan gave an update
on his press plan for the RevCon, including a press
conference by the Director General and an early
substantive wire service story. He is working on
compiling "visuals" -- both photos and film footage
that can be used with CWC stories, and he appreciated
U.S. film from the Defense Department. He inquired
about possible press availability by visiting senior
U.S. delegation members.


8. (SBU) Luhan said that the TS is preparing for
Iraqi accession before or during the RevCon. He
noted his view that, from a PR perspective, Iraqi
accession will be positive in raising the profile of
the OPCW.

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WEOG and OEWG: REVIEW CONFERENCE PREPARATION
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9. (SBU) The Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
met on March 18. UK delegate outlined the chairman's
plans for a revised consolidated text to be
transmitted to the TS for translation and
distribution by the end of the week, and the next
working group discussion of process. The chair would
be proposing daily informal meetings beginning March
28 to go through the revised text in four or five
sections, with afternoons left open to allow smaller
drafting groups to meet as they wished. Any agreed
changes to the text would go into the final draft for
distribution at the beginning of the conference. In
the ensuing discussion, WEOG members were skeptical
that much would be agreed before the RevCon, but
agreed that the negotiation process was important for
better understanding of the views of delegations and
gauging the amount of support for NAM positions.


10. (U) On March 19, Amb. Parker (UK) chaired a
meeting of the Open Ended Working Group (OWEG) with

discussion focusing on next steps until the opening
of the Review Conference. He outlined the decisions
needed on April 3 at the last OEWG meeting on both
attendance by non-signatories, international
organizations, NGOs and industry; and nominations for
officers of the Conference (chairman, 2 vice chairs
from each regional group, the Committee of the Whole
to be chaired by the African group, and the
Credentials Committee to be chaired by WEOG).


11. (U) Despite objections from Cuba, South Africa,
Iran and India, Amb. Parker stated that he would send
a revised chairman's draft of the report to the TS by
the end of the week for distribution to all States
Parties before the RevCon. There was extensive
discussion on whether and how other papers, including
the NAM comments on the February 22 draft, might be
distributed, with NAM members insisting on official
distribution of their paper, and other delegations
arguing against selective distribution of only some
states' views. The German Ambassador suggested that
the cover note to the chairman's draft text could
refer to other documents available on the OPCW
external server, an idea which drew broad support.


12. (U) The OEWG will meet again on March 27 to
discuss initial views of the revised text and will
begin daily informal meetings March 28. Amb. Javits
urged that the informal meetings be open,
transparent, and elect their own chairs, but that
they use the limited remaining time productively.

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BILATERALS ON THE REVIEW CONFERENCE
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13. (SBU) Lithuanian Ambassador Verba called on Amb.
Javits on March 20 to discuss a national initiative
for the RevCon. Del reps sat in. Amb. Verba
presented a working paper by his government on the
promotion of voluntary international cooperation on
chemical weapons dumped at sea. He is consulting
other EU members on the issue and has drafted a
paragraph for inclusion in the EU's joint RevCon
statement. The U.S. is the first non-EU country with
whom he has broached the issue. Amb. Javits
acknowledged the seriousness of the problem in the
Baltic Sea and noted that individual countries'
expertise is often far greater than the OPCW's,
particularly with regard to the ecological
implications. Del reps outlined key U.S. objectives
for the RevCon and encouraged Lithuania's active
engagement.


14. (SBU) Later on March 20, Indian Ambassador
Sabharwal and her deputy, Riva Das, called on Amb.
Javits and Del reps. Amb. Sabharwal was particularly
concerned that there will not be sufficient time to
address all the issues after "yet another draft text"
and inquired about how the Conference would organize
itself. Amb. Javits noted that the organization
during the Conference would be up to the Chairman,
but that it might be helpful to the Saudi Ambassador
if a small group of interested ambassadors would like
to discuss organization and time management with him.
He emphasized that the NAM should not push for
constant caucuses during the Conference, that
regional or other groups could meet outside of the
formal schedule. He also advised that states
friendly to Iran (like India) should warn the Iranian
ambassador that delaying everything until the end is
unlikely to succeed this time. The report, Amb.
Javits said, should be inspirational as well as a
road map for the work ahead. Amb. Sabharwal
responded that the CWC has achieved a lot, and that
should be reflected in the RevCon report. She agreed

to keep in touch with Amb. Javits as things progress.

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IRAQI DRAFT DECLARATION
--------------


15. (C) On March 6, the Director-General of the OPCW
received a copy of Iraq's "final draft" CWC
declaration, which was passed to the TS for review
prior to Iraq's official submission of its
declaration to the OPCW, as agreed during the
workshop last October in Amman (Ref B). The TS
convened a working meeting with the U.S. and UK on
March 19 and 20 to review the latest draft and
provide a final set of comments to Iraq. Participants
included: Clive Rowland, Jim McGilly, Chris
McCormick, and Lee Littman for the UK; Horst Reeps,
Oleg Ukarov, Ken Penman, and Chris Carrow for the TS;
and Tom Ferguson, Don Clagett, Bill Parker, and Abby
Robinson for the U.S. The final set of
recommendations and suggested specific changes are
being transmitted (via CD) by the Director General to
Baghdad through the Iraqi Embassy in The Hague.


16. (C) The Iraqis followed earlier U.S. suggestions
to classify two potentially sensitive sections of the
declaration as OPCW Highly Protected: the new Annex
on the contents of the Al-Muthanna bunkers in order
to mitigate possible terrorists' interest; and the
Declaration Forms for Past Receipts of CW in order to
minimize politicizing States Parties' historical
activities.


17. (C) Although Iraqi representatives have stated
that their CWC accession could come at any time,
Horst Reeps said the TS has no additional information
on their accession other than rumors that Iraq will
accede before the RevCon. UK representatives also
voiced concern from policy makers on an accession
date.

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BILATERAL DISCUSSIONS WITH THE UK TEAM
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18. (C) The U.S. held bilateral discussions with the
UK representatives on the margins of the meetings
with the TS on both Iraq and Libya. One of the issues
discussed was the suggested addition of Iraq's ricin
production and weaponization for field testing
purposes, which, although reported by the United
Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC) in July 2007, was not included
in Iraq's draft declaration. The UK representatives
stated that they were not prepared to address the
Iraqi ricin/toxins issue with the TS since the UK had
not completed its internal assessment on the research
and production of these toxins. Thus, the U.S. reps
did not raise the ricin issue and agreed to
coordinate with the UK on this issue within the next
few weeks.


19. (C) The UK questioned Iraqi preparation for and
ability to respond to Member States' questions about
its CWC declaration in future bilateral Article IX
consultations. U.S. del suggested that, without
adequate preparation, the Iraqis might be limited to
deferring official responses to Baghdad, and agreed
that US-UK-Iraqi coordination is needed in
anticipation of these interactions.


20. (C) On Libya, the UK is interested in an agreed
way ahead for the U.S. and UK to reengage Libya on
the Rabta conversion. The UK expressed interest in
trying to reschedule a trip to Tripoli on the status
of the conversion as well as CW destruction and the

remaining CW issues from the Trilateral Steering and
Cooperation Committee (TSCC). The UK does not see
Libya's proposed removal of the Rabta sandbag wall as
an issue of concern. Both delegations agreed to
consult with capitals about a proposed schedule and
agenda.

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HOST COUNTRY COMMITTEE
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21. (U) On March 19, Amb. Javits and Del rep attended
a meeting of the OPCW Host Country Committee with
representatives of the Municipality of The Hague.
Discussion focused primarily on the issue of parking.
The Deputy Mayor of The Hague noted that the
municipality, in coordination with the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, designates reserved parking spaces
in front of diplomatic missions and official
residences. However, as there is no legal basis in
Dutch law for reserving on-street parking spaces, the
reserved spaces are merely a courtesy and cannot be
enforced.


22. (U) Beik sends.

Gallagher