CWC: SCENE-SETTER FOR OPCW EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 58TH

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000604

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR,
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (BROWN, DENYER AND CRISTOFARO)
NSC FOR LUTES
WINPAC FOR WALTER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL AORC OPCW CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: SCENE-SETTER FOR OPCW EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 58TH
SESSION, OCTOBER 13-16, 2009

REF: A. THE HAGUE 601

B. THE HAGUE 597

C. BEIK-MIKULAK E-MAIL 10/02/09 (SOUTH AFRICAN
PROPOSAL FOR NEW AGENDA SUB-ITEM)

D. SMITH-MIKULAK E-MAIL 09/28/09 (DRAFT EC REPORT
LANGUAGE: DEADLINE CONSULTATIONS BY
CHAIRMAN)

This is CWC-59-09.


1. (U) This is an action request -- please see
paras 16-18.

--------------
SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION
--------------


2. (SBU) While the selection of a new Director-
General is consuming all the attention of delegates
(ref A),the agenda for Executive Council 58 (EC-
58) is quite full and contains some potential
landmines for the U.S. The budget is not yet
resolved (ref B),and although new rounds of
facilitations on Articles VII, X, XI and
Universality have only just begun, all of them may
have decision or report language to negotiate.


3. (SBU) The South African initiative (ref C) is
moving forward rapidly on an Open Ended Working
Group to discuss "Security and destruction of
chemical weapons in situations not foreseen by the
Chemical Weapons Convention" -- purported to be
future-oriented but many delegations would prefer
to discuss U.S. and UK destruction of CW in Iraq
between 2003 and 2009. The Iranians held open from
the last EC the report on the EC representatives'
visit to the Pueblo and Umatilla destruction
facilities in the U.S. and have been trying to
convince other delegations of strong language
against the U.S. for non-compliance with the
Convention deadline. The U.S. 90-day report may
also raise future compliance issues with its
publication, for the first time, of projected dates
after the final deadline in 2012. Libya's
extension request will likely also raise
discussion, both privately and publicly. Brazil
has drafted language on a future discussion of the
destruction deadlines under the Chairman (ref D),
which some delegations welcome but others find
premature.


4. (U) All these topics and multiple discussions
and possible rounds of voting for the DG will make
this EC a very long week indeed.

--------------
DIRECTOR-GENERAL SELECTION
--------------


5. (SBU) The first straw poll to determine support
of the seven candidates for DG took place on
October 5
(Ref A). The Chairperson left open the possibility
of candidates with less support dropping out
voluntarily. They had shown no inclination to do
so when he first approached them after his
confessional meetings. Now the entire Council has
seen the spread of initial support, but it remains
to be seen if the candidates will now withdraw or
will remain in the race until the Council mandates
their elimination. Del expects one or more
additional straw polls in the next week as the
Council opens, and possibly formal voting if
candidates fail to heed the early warnings.

--------------
PRE-EC AGENDA MEETING

--------------


6. (SBU) At the October 2 informal consultation on
the agenda for EC-58, South African Ambassador
Goosen opened the session by proposing a new agenda
item 5 "Security and destruction of chemical
weapons in situations not foreseen by the Chemical
Weapons Convention." Sudan supported the proposal.
Delrep countered that this would more appropriately
be discussed under Any Other Business as the
Council had not yet made a decision. Goosen
expressed "surprise" that the U.S. would object to
the agenda item after it had been consulted on the
issue. Chairperson Lomonaco noted that the
informal meeting would not make a decision on the
agenda, but that the Council would do so as its
first item of business on October 13. (Del
comment: South Africa clearly intends to pursue
this issue actively, with or without agreement by
the U.S. and UK. End comment.)


7. (SBU) The Dutch Vice Chairman requested deferral
of the agenda item on the conversion of former CW
production facilities after ten years, noting that
consultations are still underway. The facilitators
for Articles VII and XI both noted that they had
begun consultations but would continue meeting,
with possible drafting of decision language. The
facilitator for low concentrations (Schedule
2a/2a*) stated that there might also be a draft
decision after the industry cluster meetings on
October 6.


8. (SBU) The Swiss co-faciltator for the budget
also noted ongoing consultations. When the South
African and U.S. flags went up for the report of
the Advisory Body on Administrative and Financial
Issues (ABAF),Secretary Khodakov quickly
intervened to state that the document would be
available in English shortly and in all other
languages the following week. (Del comment: In
fact, quite a few Council documents were not yet
issued at the time of this meeting, only ten days
before the session is to start. End comment.) The
South African Ambassador took the last word to
opine that the Council needs to explore more
accurate verbs than "noting" for the actions that
it takes.

--------------
BUDGET
--------------


9. (SBU) Since concluding the scheduled series of
budget consultations last week (ref B),co-
facilitators Amb. Francisco Aguillar (Costa Rica)
and Martin Strub (Switzerland) have held two
"informal informal" meetings of interested
delegations (Brazil, China, France, Germany, India,
Iran, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands,
Pakistan, South Africa, Sweden, the UK and the
U.S.) on September 30 and October 5; another
meeting is scheduled for October 8. The meetings
have focused solely on the number of industry
(Artcle VI) inspections and the related issue of
the draft budget decision.


10. (SBU) China, India and Pakistan have all stated
they want to keep the 208 inspections agreed last
year for the 2009 budget (including the spread of
11 Schedule 1, 42 Schedule 2, 30 Schedule 3 and 125
OCPF) due to the lack of progress on resolving
outstanding industry issues. Iran claims to be
less interested in numbers and more in principle,
insisting that the number of inspections needs to
Qinsisting that the number of inspections needs to
be discussed as a "matter of policy" in Industry
Cluster consultations first. The Iranian

delegation has insisted that language agreed in
last year's budget decision be copied verbatim in
this year's decision. South Africa has indicated
flexibility -- even disinterest -- in the number of
OCPF inspections but insists that Schedule 3
inspections not be reduced from 30. WEOG countries
have supported the DG's proposal in the draft 2010
budget but individual delegations have indicated
varying degrees of flexibility on inspection
numbers. All WEOG countries acknowledge the
importance of ensuring this year's budget decision
is less ambiguous and more successful in moving the
perennial debate on inspections out of the budget
and into more relevant consultations.

--------------
DESTRUCTION ISSUES
--------------


11. (SBU) After persistent pressure from the
Iranians, the report of the EC visit to the U.S.
destruction facilities in June will be discussed in
an open meeting chaired by Ambassador Lohman
(Netherlands) on October 8. The South African
delegate who participated in the visit and took a
leading role in final drafting and editing of the
report also drafted EC report language for the July
EC which his Ambassador is planning to introduce
again in this Council. Iran reportedly has
alternative language critical of the United States,
but several delegations, including South Africa and
India who participated in the visit, have told
Delreps that they did not agree with the Iranian
initiative. Del expects Iran to introduce
problematic language in the Council, with or
without support from others.


12. (SBU) The U.S. 90-day destruction report of
June 30, on the agenda for this session of the
Council, is drawing questions due to its
publication for the first time of the projected
dates of operation for the Pueblo and Blue Grass
facilities. Most recently, the Swedish delegate
followed earlier inquiries from China and South
Africa in asking why the U.S. had chosen now to
publish those dates after resisting so long to
include future projections in the 90-day historical
reports. The published dates may encourage Iran to
renew its efforts to differentiate the U.S. report
from the others or to attempt additional criticism
of the U.S. failure to meet the (future) deadline.

--------------
LIBYAN EXTENSION REQUEST
--------------


13. (SBU) Delegations are discussing Libya's
request for an extension for its destruction
deadline with varying degrees of skepticism, but
Delreps have not heard that any delegation will
challenge the extension. Most consider that Libya
has additional time before the final deadline and
that the EC and CSP can legally extend its current
deadline. Del expects that, despite the minute
attention normally given to U.S. deadlines, Libya
will gain approval for its extension with minimal
discussion in the preoccupation with the DG race.

--------------
NEW INITIATIVES -- SOUTH AFRICA AND BRAZIL
--------------


14. (SBU) South Africa's pre-emptive move (Ref C)
to add a new agenda item on "Security and
Qdestruction of chemical weapons in situations not
foreseen by the Chemical Weapons Convention" is
receiving mixed reactions among Council members.

In the October 6 WEOG meeting, several delegations
expressed their opposition to the procedural move
to create an agenda item before the issue is
discussed and a working group is (or is not)
approved. Other delegations are reluctant to open
an over-burdened agenda with a procedural fight and
have asked the U.S. and UK to try to resolve the
issue privately with South Africa. The Dutch
Ambassador (Vice Chair for demilitarization issues)
expressed his willingness to chair informal
discussions on the issue, if asked, but will not
volunteer himself. (Del comment: We would
appreciate consideration and guidance on the Dutch
Ambassador's offer. While the U.S. will have some
support on the procedural question, there is broad
confusion on the issue itself, what the working
group is intended to do, and whether or not it will
be addressing the recent history of CW destruction
in Iraq. Whoever chairs that discussion will be
critQl to keeping it contained. End comment.)


15. (SBU) A second initiative by Brazil (ref D)
appears to be an effort to find a compromise
solution to the growing questions on destruction
deadlines by putting consultations in the hands of
the Chairperson. The Brazilian delegate told
Delrep that his delegation sees the language as
something to offer late in the session; they would
like to have these consultations consider
alternatives the Council might consider in dealing
with the deadline issue. In a P-5 discussion on
October 6, both the Chinese Ambassador and the
Russian delegate voiced their views that the
Brazilian proposal is "premature."

--------------
ACTION REQUESTS
--------------


16. (SBU) Specific guidance on the South African
proposal will be needed for the EC session and for
the trilateral meeting with South Africa and the UK
on October 12. The procedural issue of the agenda
item and whether to support the Dutch Ambassador to
take the lead on any consultations need to be
addressed, as well as the larger issue of a working
group, its scope and outcome.


17. (SBU) Guidance on the Brazilian proposal and
its timing will also be needed for the EC session.
If there are specific comments or suggested changes
to the Brazilian draft, it would be useful to pass
those to the Brazilian delegation before the
Council begins, as they have not yet broadly
distributed the draft.


18. (SBU) Specific guidance on the acceptable
number of industry inspections will be necessary
for the EC session and going into budget
negotiations. Any agreement on numbers (whether
last year's compromise, this year's DG proposal, or
a compromise of the two) will be tied to language
in the budget decision, so clear guidance on that
will also be needed.


19. (U) BEIK SENDS.

LEVIN