CWC: WRAP-UP FOR MARCH 9-13, 2009

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000181

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STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR,
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: WRAP-UP FOR MARCH 9-13, 2009

REF: A. THE HAGUE 167

B. STATE 23254

This is CWC-16-09.

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) The Western European and Others Group
(WEOG) met March 10 to prepare for a meeting of the
WEOG representatives to the Executive Council (EC)
requested by the Chair to discuss the selection
process for a new Director-General (DG). Only two
formal candidatures have been announced, Algerian
Ambassador Benchaa Dani, and Turkish Permanent
Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador
Ahmet Uzumcu, but Germany, UK and Switzerland all
expect to field candidates shortly.


2. (SBU) Delreps also met with Technical
Secretariat (TS) representatives on March 11 to
discuss the Libyan former CW production facility at
Rabta, and called on the new head of the Policy
Review Branch, Stian Holen, on March 12.


3. (SBU) Iraq submitted its initial declaration on
March 12. The Iraqi Ambassador was not available,
but Delreps will meet with him the week of March 16
to present the non-paper on preparations for the EC
(56) in April (Ref B).

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WEOG
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4. (SBU) German Ambassador Werner Burkart chaired
the weekly WEOG meeting on March 10. The meeting
was kept short and focused on the selection process
for the next Director-General in advance of a
meeting the EC Chairperson had called for WEOG
members of the Council. Noting that there will be
multiple candidates put forward by WEOG countries,
Burkart said that the Group will have to discuss
how to handle coordination. Turkish Ambassador
Selahattin Alpar spoke briefly about Turkey's DG
candidate, Ahmet Uzumcu (currently the Turkish
Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva) and
announced that Uzumcu plans to visit The Hague and
would like to meet with WEOG delegations.


5. (SBU) Burkart reported that Tomova had drafted
and signed the letter inviting nominations for DG
from all member states and that it would be
circulated shortly by the Technical Secretariat to
all delegations. (Del Note: Del received the
letter on March 13 and forwarded to Washington.
End Note.) Burkart also stated that Tomova's
intention is to meet with the EC members from each
regional group to discuss procedures for the
selection process. He suggested that it would be
wiser to focus on the immediate future rather than
trying to plan for every eventuality through the
end of the year. Most delegations agreed with
keeping the process clean and simple and focusing
on a step-by-step approach. Swedish delegate
Christer Ahlstrom said that it would be imperative
for the October session of the EC (EC-58) to
forward only one candidate to the Conference of the
States Parties (CSP). Burkart added that taking the
decision by consensus would be preferable, if
possible.


6. (SBU) Ambassador Pieter de Savornin Lohman
(Netherlands) warned against discussing process and
procedure in an open-ended working group, as Iran
had called for during the February EC (EC-55). He
noted that in addition to the already-announced
Algerian and Turkish candidates, there would likely
be at least five more candidates, four of which
might come from other WEOG countries. UK delegate
Karen Wolstenholme informed those present that the
UK Government had decided the previous day to
nominate current Deputy Director-General (DDG) John
Freeman for DG, but she asked that that information
not be shared outside of WEOG. Swiss delegate
Martin Strub also noted that Switzerland will
likely put forward a candidate. Burkart announced
that Germany will also nominate a candidate,
pending approval by the Council of Ministers.


7. (SBU) Wolstenholme stated that the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) will want to avoid reaching
consensus on a candidate during EC-58 in order to
string things out and force a vote at the CSP where
the NAM will have a majority. Irish delegate
Michael Hurley stressed the need to make clear that
the process is not up for negotiation and that
deadlines (e.g., July 7 for nominations of
candidates) are firm. Burkart noted that NAM
delegations already are mentioning informally the
possibility of considering candidates nominated
after the July 7 deadline.

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DG SELECTION: EC CHAIR MEETS WITH WEOG EC MEMBERS
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8. (SBU) EC Chairperson Ambassador Oksana Tomova
hosted the ten WEOG members of the Council at the
Slovakian Embassy on March 10. She informed the
group she planned to meet with each of the regional
groups separately and then with the group
coordinators, in accordance with the EC's directive
for her to conduct consultations. She said the
letter to all member states inviting candidates was
with the Technical Secretariat but she planned to
sign it later that day. She noted that the July 7
deadline is firm, although some delegations were
speculating about later candidacies; there were
also rumors of two deputies, but that was not the
decision at hand for the Council. Burkart noted
that the Preparatory Commission had discussed
having two deputies, and the current corridor
discussions seemed to have picked that up. As
agreed in the larger WEOG meeting (above),WEOG
representatives urged a clean procedure,
emphasizing that the Chair be in charge, and
working toward consensus at the October EC. UK
Ambassador Lyn Parker noted the gentlemen's
agreement at the PrepCom, and that delegations may
want private reassurances from candidates about a
geographic balance for the Deputy Director-General,
but that there should be no public linkages.


9. (SBU) Tomova noted that the Turkish government
had asked that the curriculum vitae for its
candidate be distributed, and that Algeria had sent
a note verbale to all member states. The TS was
circulating both as documents of the Council (EC-
57),setting the model for later nominations.
Parker and Burkart announced that there would be
candidates from the UK and Germany, but did not
divulge names. French delegate Mari proposed an
anonymous vote in the EC if consensus proved
difficult. Parker advised that, while a vote is
always possible, it would be best not to discuss
voting too early in the process. Some delegations,
Qvoting too early in the process. Some delegations,
he noted, would prefer that the decision go to the
Conference, where the numbers for voting would be
very different.


10. (SBU) Parker asked what would happen at EC-56
in April. Tomova said she would like to provide a
document to the member states outlining the
process. U.S. Delrep stated that a document could
prove problematic and turn into a drafting
exercise; she suggested that the Chairperson give
an oral status report on her series of
consultations and remind everyone of the calendar
(July 7, presentations at EC-57, etc.). There was
general agreement among the group that any explicit
statement on criteria or vetting procedures be
avoided. Several delegations spoke to the need for
the Chair to have a free hand, and for a smooth
transition from Tomova to Mexican Ambassador
Lomonaco in May. Tomova welcomed the views of the
WEOG reps and asked that she be invited to a WEOG-
plus like-minded states' meeting in the weeks
before the EC to discuss views with that larger
group.

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MEETING WITH TS TO DISCUSS LIBYAN CWPF CONVERSION
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11. (SBU) On March 11, Delreps met with UK delegate
Karen Wolstenholme and the following
representatives from the Technical Secretariat
(TS): Director of Verification Horst Reeps, Legal
Advisor Santiago Onate, Chemical Demilitarization
Branch (CDB) Head Dominique Anelli, and CDB Officer
Oleg Ukharov. Delreps sought TS views on Libya's
request to retain the protective berm and sandbag
wall around its former production facility at
Rabta. Onate agreed that moving a
structure/feature from the "specialized" to
"standard" list is an unprecedented change in a
conversion plan, but also noted the TS view that
the sandbag wall should never have been declared as
specialized in the first place. Anelli and Ukharov
confirmed that the TS now plans to capture the
justification for retaining the sandbag wall in the
change document it will issue to the Executive
Council (EC). Delreps noted that this technical
assessment from the Secretariat would facilitate
Council members' consideration of the issue.
Anelli recommended that Libya include details on
this change and the justification in its 90-Day
report to the Council.


12. (SBU) Action Request: Del requests guidance as
to whether the U.S. is now in a position to support
this change.

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SUBMISSION OF IRAQ'S DECLARATION
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13. (SBU) On March 12, Delrep confirmed with Iraqi
Rep Abbas Fadhil Al-Kafhaji that Iraq had submitted
its declaration (in English) to the TS. Delrep
informed Abbas that the U.S. has a non-paper to
provide to Iraqi Ambassador Banaa, and raised the
possibility of experts from Baghdad participating
in a working session April 16-17 (prior to EC-56)
to develop Iraq's presentation to the EC-56
Destruction Informals. Abbas responded that his
delegation is encouraging Baghdad to send expert
representatives to EC-56, and he agreed to schedule
a meeting for Delreps with the Ambassador next
week.

-------------- -
DISCUSSIONS WITH NEW POLICY REVIEW BRANCH HEAD
-------------- -


14. (SBU) On March 12, Delreps met with Stian
Holen, the new head of the OPCW's Policy Review
Branch (PRB). Delreps found Holen to be engaged,
enthusiastic, and interested in developing the
policy role of the branch to include more effective
Qpolicy role of the branch to include more effective
analysis of inspections and exploring a longer-term
vision for the Organization.


15. (SBU) Holen noted his view that, in comparison
with other international organizations, the
Executive Council of the OPCW seems remarkably
complacent about deferring a significant number of
agenda items for one or more sessions. Holen has
also been surprised by the impact of the OPCW
confidentiality regime on the Technical
Secretariat's ability to synthesize and analyze
inspection data. As an example, he explained that
two inspectors may run across very similar issues
on industry inspections in two different States
Parties, but would never know this because they are
not permitted to share the details of their
inspections. One of Holen's goals for the coming
year is to find, within the constraints of the
confidentiality regime, a more effective way for
inspectors to learn from each others' experience
and for PRB to analyze trends. Holen also frankly
noted the Director-General's cautious approach
holds the TS back from proposing new initiatives.


16. (SBU) Holen informed Delreps that preparation
of the 2008 Verification Implementation Report is
proceeding on schedule and that he intends to
continue improving the format and accessibility of
information. He sought Del views on the TS's
readiness to conduct a challenge inspection, and
shared his own: that the headquarters element
seems to be well trained, but that he has doubts
about the ability of an inspection team on the
ground to perform the tasks associated with a
challenge inspection to a high standard. (Del
Comment: This is consistent with U.S. and other
informal reporting that the overall quality of
inspections is decreasing. End Comment.) Holen
hopes to involve the TS in a field exercise some
time in the next two years, but this may be shaped
by TS participation in the upcoming Investigation
of Alleged Use exercise in Tunisia in 2010. Holen
also noted the TS plans to hold a table-top
exercise during 2009, having not had one since

2007.


17. (SBU) On staffing, Holen said that the OPCW has
offered a position in PRB to Daniel Feakes, who
will start at the end of May. He asked for U.S.
views on the impact of the tenure policy, and noted
that he believes the impact is exacerbated by
budget and training issues. Referring to his
experience at the UN's World Food Program, Holen
remarked that the OPCW seems to be "run on a
shoestring," which means that robust training that
could be used to offset the effects of experienced
personnel departing is often unaffordable.


18. (SBU) Holen sought U.S. views on current
priorities and the future of the OPCW. Delreps
highlighted the U.S. desire to see the Organization
stay relevant in the evolving security environment,
particularly where the industry inspection regime
was concerned. Delreps also noted that it will be
very important for the OPCW to become more
effective in its non-proliferation role as chemical
weapons destruction activity decreases. Holen said
that he had also been surprised that more of PRB's
time is not devoted to thinking about issues like
this, particularly with 2012 approaching. He
reiterated his intention to focus PRB away from
more operational activities better suited to other
Qmore operational activities better suited to other
branches and toward policy formulation, including
more medium- and long-term planning. To that end,
Holen mentioned that one of PRB's new projects has
been a paper on addressing the diminishing number
of Schedule 3 industrial facilities that have not
yet been inspected.


19. (U) Beik sends.
GALLAGHER