CWC: WRAP-UP FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 26- 30, 2009

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000071

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2019
TAGS: AG IZ PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: WRAP-UP FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 26- 30, 2009

REF: THE HAGUE 59

Classified By: Janet E. Beik for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)

This is CWC-03-09

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Speculation on the process to select a new
Director General (DG) for the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is beginning
in earnest, with a formal agenda item now on the
calendar for the next Executive Council (EC- 55) in
February. The Western European and Others group
(WEOG) took up this issue among others at its
weekly meeting, as did Russian and Algerian
delegates in private conversations with Delreps.
The Algerian confirmed that their current
Ambassador to the OPCW, Benchaa Dani, will be their
candidate. As facilitator for Article VII, he also
outlined his plans for the next meeting (now
scheduled for February 9).


2. (SBU) U.S. Delreps and the UK delegate met with
members of the Technical Secretariat on January 29
to discuss Iraq's accession to the Convention and
the rollout of its initial declaration.

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DIRECTOR GENERAL SEARCH
--------------


3. (C) On January 27, Russian deputy Konstantin
Gavrilov informed Delreps that he has heard South
Africa may also have a potential candidate for next
Director General (DG) of the OPCW. According to
Gavrilov, Abdul Minty, South Africa's candidate for
IAEA DG, has indicated a willingness to consider
pulling out of the IAEA race if he is guaranteed
the OPCW position instead. Gavrilov noted the
connection with the fact that current OPCW DG
Rogelio Pfirter is still viewed by many as a
possible IAEA candidate if neither of the current
two candidates receives enough support in the March
election.


4. (C) Gavrilov also opined that Deputy Director
General John Freeman appears to be actively
campaigning for the top job, and that Germany and
France likely have candidates as well. An EU
delegate later told Delreps that the EU prefers to
have only one candidate for such international
positions, but that they cannot always agree.


5. (C) On January 28, Algerian delegate Said Moussi
confirmed to Delrep that his government had decided
to nominate Ambassador Benchaa Dani, their current
ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent
Representatives to OPCW, as a candidate for
Director General. Moussi also responded to the
point Delreps made in a previous conversation
(reftel) concerning the Prepcom "gentlemen's
agreement" on rotation between developing and
developed countries; he said that his government
did not view that agreement to pertain to the
current DG selection process but only to the
rotation from the Prepcom leadership to the
selection of the first DG.


6. (C) Del comment: There will be little support
for Dani's candidacy from a large number of
delegations that have observed his failure to
effectively lead either the Review Conference
Committee of the Whole in April or the industry
portfolio as Vice Chair of the Executive Council
for the past two years. However, as Moussi's
statement indicates, the Prepcom rotational
agreement for OPCW may not gain much support in the
Non-aligned Movement as the political games over
this election begin. End Comment.

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WEOG
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7. (SBU) On January 27, the Western Europe and
Others Group (WEOG) held its weekly meeting with
the agenda primarily focused on preparations for
Executive Council (EC)-55. German Ambassador
Werner Burkart briefed the WEOG on the previous
week's EC Bureau meeting, characterizing it as
"surprisingly peaceful." At that meeting, EC Chair
Amb. Oksana Tomova (Slovakia) laid out her proposed
time-line for initiating the search for a new DG
and said that she would consult EC-55 on her plans.
DG Pfirter agreed that it would be best to start
the process early in order for the EC to reach
agreement on a recommended candidate by the October
session. Burkart also reported that Iranian
delegate Mohsen Naziri Asl had informed that Bureau
of his departure from The Hague by early February.


8. (SBU) Taking up the question of Iranian
representation on the EC Bureau, WEOG Facilitator
Ruth Surkau (Germany) asked if WEOG should respond
to the letter sent by Pakistani Ambassador Arif
Ayub on behalf of the Asian Group confirming Iran's
position that it would remain the Group's Bureau
representative. Delegations agreed with Delrep's
suggestion that it would be better to work toward
future enforcement of the rule of procedure and
insure an accredited representative is elected in
May to take over the Asian Group's place on the
Bureau. Amb. Pieter de Savornin-Lohman
(Netherlands) reported that no new Iranian
ambassador is expected any time soon.


9. (C) Turning to preparations for EC-55, Surkau
asked all interested candidates to represent WEOG
on the EC Bureau starting in May to inform her by
January 23. Amb. Savornin-Lohman indicated the
Netherlands is interested in taking over from
Germany. (Del Comment: Lohman's interest in the
WEOG vice chair came as something of a surprise
after German Ambassador Burkhart had informed the
group the week before that he was willing to
continue in the position. We expect the two will
sort it out among themselves, but if not, Del would
recommend that the U.S. support Burkhart, who has
done a good job as Vice Chair for destruction
issues. Lohman is new to his position and his
leadership abilities are not yet evident. End
Comment)


10. (SBU) Surkau next opened discussion on the
Advisory Body on Administrative and Financial
Matters (ABAF) by noting that seven candidates are
still pending appointment since EC-54. She
reported that resumes for candidates (as requested
by the U.S. and others at EC-54) had not yet been
received by the TS. Delrep and the Netherlands
delegate both noted concern at attempts to
politicize ABAF and stressed the need to insure it
remains a technical body with real experts who can
advise the TS appropriately. The Australian
delegate said that treatment of all ABAF candidates
Qdelegate said that treatment of all ABAF candidates
should be consistent -- whether they are new or
replacement nominees -- and that ABAF positions
should not be "hereditary." Amb. Burkart noted
that the German ABAF member will be re-nominated
due to his term's expiration, increasing the number
of pending candidates.


11. (SBU) On the DG selection process, Surkau
recounted EC Chair Tomova's intention to issue a
letter calling for nominations in advance of the
April EC session. The French delegate said that
the Legal Advisor should provide a legal opinion on
the process but that Tomova should take the
initiative without needing to seek permission from
the EC. Delrep agreed that the DG selection
process is within the EC Chair's purview and that
the EC should not need to agree to a decision on
procedure. Delrep also gave an overview of the
"gentleman's agreement" on rotating the DG position
between developed and developing countries. Other
delegations were interested in the written records
of the "gentlemen's agreement" and the Legal
Advisor's view of such an agreement. Germany
stated that WEOG should support the "gentlemen's
agreement" as long as possible, but that if the
question of a regional group rotation is raised, it
would be WEOG's turn, as the current DG is from
GRULAC (Argentina).


12. (U) WEOG approved by acclamation Belgian
Ambassador Yves Haesendonck -- who has previous
experience negotiating host country agreements --
to take over the U.S. seat on the Host Country
Committee.


13. (SBU) Surkau announced that Ralf Trapp will
facilitate the upcoming meeting of government
experts to discuss the Scientific Advisory Board's
(SAB) report for the Second Review Conference.
Sweden, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and the U.S.
confirmed they would send experts; New Zealand
indicated that it might. Switzerland noted that
its expert would be participating as a member of
the SAB rather than representing the Swiss
government.


14. (SBU) Under Any Other Business, the French
delegate shared a prepared position from Paris on
white phosphorus in response to Iran's request that
the DG investigate Israel's reported use of white
phosphorus in Gaza. The Australian delegate and
Amb. Burkart confirmed that the DG -- as is his
standard practice -- had written to Israel asking
for them to respond to the reports. Amb.
Haesendonck reported that an International Criminal
Court (ICC) prosecutor is investigating the
possibility of white phosphorus use falling under
the Rome Statute.


15. (SBU) Surkau reported that Colombia is the new
Latin America and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
coordinator and that Estonia is the new Eastern
European Group coordinator. She also noted that
nominations for a new Article X facilitator are due
February 6 and that Polish delegate Maciej
Karasinski is interested in taking up the
facilitation.

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Article VII
--------------


16. (SBU) Delreps learned from Article VII
Facilitator Said Moussi (Algeria) that he plans to
convene a consultation on 9 February, likely the
only Article VII consultation prior to EC-55. The
agenda for the meeting will include a presentation
by both the OPCW Legal Advisor and Director of ICA
on the organization's current and future activities
surrounding Article VII implementation. Moussi
said he would then open the floor to general
Qsaid he would then open the floor to general
debate. Moussi also confirmed rumors that he had
been asked to leave the Article VII facilitation
and move over to the recently vacated Article XI
slot. While flattered he had been approached by
some delegations on this issue, Moussi indicated he
planned to remain at the helm of Article VII, not
least because he was set to transfer from The Hague
this summer and did not think it fair to handle a
new portfolio with such little time remaining in
his tour.

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IRAQI ACCESSION
--------------


17. (C) On January 29, Delreps and UK Rep Karen
Wolstenholme met with OPCW Technical Secretariat
officials Horst Reeps (Director of Verification),
Ichiro Akiyama (Director, Inspectorate),Dominique
Anelli (Head, Chemical Demilitarization Branch),
Julian Tangaere (Head, Operations and Planning
Branch),and Renato Carvalho (Head, Inspectorate
Management Branch),to discuss Iraq's accession and
initial declaration. Reeps said that the TS has
not heard anything from Baghdad since early last
year, and that the TS has no sense as to the
possible timing of Iraq's initial declaration.
Surprisingly, the Verification Division has not
made an effort to reach out to the Iraqi Embassy in
The Hague to begin discussing the declaration and
other obligations Iraq assumes as a member state.


18. (C) On verification of Iraq's initial
declaration (and eventually of destruction of
recovered or existing chemical weapons),the TS is
not in a position to send inspection teams until
Iraq can guarantee their safety and security.
However, Akiyama noted that planning for
inspections is going ahead, and explained his idea
that inspection teams should not be headed by
former UNSCOM inspectors (in order to clearly
distinguish between previous inspection regimes and
the OPCW). The resident expertise will, of course,
still be put to use on the inspection teams. The
TS preference is for Iraq to clearly state its
inability to guarantee the safety of OPCW
inspection teams, to avoid the impression that the
TS is unwilling to fulfill its verification
mandate.


19. (C) Reeps also still intends to provide some
information on Iraq's accession and declaration at
the first session of the destruction informals
following the submission of the declaration (likely
EC 56 in April). Among future activities, he will
likely refer to the need for Iraq to submit
destruction plans. Political difficulties of
establishing destruction deadlines aside, the TS
concern on this issue is the same as with the
initial declaration; the TS has a clear mandate to
provide continual monitoring of destruction. The
one exception is the recovery of chemical weapons,
which the TS plans to handle like any other
emergency recovery/destruction operation. In lieu
of the presence of an inspection team, the TS will
accept clear documentation of the recovery and
destruction, but always reserves the right to
physically verify destruction operations.


20. (C) Reeps said the TS has received very few
questions, citing only the German and Russian
delegations, both of whom asked whether Iraq would
be coming in as a "possessor state." During a
Qbe coming in as a "possessor state." During a
discussion of Iraq's ability to handle the probing
and/or political questions likely to arise, Reeps
noted that the Iraqi officials best able to field
questions would be those who have attended the
series of preparatory workshops. After the
meeting, Reeps indicated his expectation that the
U.S. and UK would submit information on recovered
rounds shortly after Iraq submitted its
declaration.


21. (U) BEIK SENDS
GALLAGHER