Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10THEHAGUE29
2010-01-15 16:19:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy The Hague
Cable title:  

CWC: WRAP-UP FOR WEEK ENDING JANUARY 15, 2010

Tags:  PARM PREL OPCW CWC 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTC #0029/01 0151619
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151619Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3654
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC//OSAC PRIORITY
UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000029 

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 OPCW CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: WRAP-UP FOR WEEK ENDING JANUARY 15, 2010

REF: A. THE HAGUE 21

B. 09 THE HAGUE 755

This is CWC-03-09.

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000029

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 OPCW CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: WRAP-UP FOR WEEK ENDING JANUARY 15, 2010

REF: A. THE HAGUE 21

B. 09 THE HAGUE 755

This is CWC-03-09.


1. (U) This includes an action request: see para

12.

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


2. (SBU) As delegations return to The Hague from
the long holidays, work at the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is picking
up speed. The Western European and Others Group
(WEOG) held its first meeting of the year on
January 12. Delreps called on Executive Council
(EC) Chairman Jorge Lomonaco (Mexico) (reported
separately in Ref A) on January 12 and on WEOG Vice
Chairman Pieter de Savornin Lohman (Netherlands) on
January 13 to discuss current issues, including the
future WEOG Chairperson of the EC and upcoming
consultations on the 2012 destruction deadline and
"situations unforeseen" by the Chemical Weapons
Convention (CWC). German Ambassador Werner Burkart
invited Delreps as well as the French and British
Deputy PermReps to a Quad lunch to discuss these
and other topics on January 15.


3. (SBU) TDY Delreps met with visiting Iraqi
technical experts and the Technical Secretariat
(TS) to discuss Iraq's initial declaration and
destruction planning on January 13-14 (to be
reported by septel). TDY Delreps also met with TS
staff privately to discuss Libya's progress toward
construction of its weapons destruction facility at
Rabta (detailed below).

--------------
THE NEXT EC CHAIR
--------------


4. (SBU) During the first WEOG meeting of the new
year on January 12, Coordinator Ruth Surkau
(Germany) opened discussion on selection of the
next Chairman of the Executive Council. Working
his way through the ten EC members from the WEOG,
German Ambassador Burkart noted that three WEOG
ambassadors (Canada, Denmark and Germany) will
leave during the summer and could not take up the
position. Three other countries (the U.S., as a
possessor state, Turkey, given that the incoming
Director-General is Turkish, and Spain, which
currently holds the rotating EU presidency) likely
would be unable to take on the role due to

potential conflicts of interest. Burkart concluded
that the chair could come from one of the four
remaining countries (France, Italy, Luxembourg and
the UK).


5. (SBU) UK Delegate Karen Wolstenholme said that
London was interested in the possibility of
splitting the chairmanship between countries and
wanted to know if there were any precedent to do so
and whether WEOG would consider the option. Dutch
Ambassador Lohman immediately responded that WEOG,
as one of the pillars of the OPCW, has a
responsibility to find a year-long solution of one
ambassador to fill the role. Spanish Ambassador
Prat y Coll agreed, noting that the four
possibilities all come from the EU and that it
reflect poorly on both the EU and WEOG if one of
them couldn't take up the chairmanship; he opined
that the burden for the next EC Chair will be much
less than for the current Chair (Mexican Ambassador
Lomonaco). Surkau proposed that Burkart continue
consulting with ambassadors and reach agreement
among the ten WEOG EC members before reporting back
to the whole WEOG for the group's approval.


6. (SBU) Delreps Beik and Granger met with Dutch
Ambassador Lohman on January 13, who provided his
insight into the selection of the next EC Chairman.
According to Lohman, the EU will sort out
internally between the four possible ambassadors.
Lohman thinks that UK Ambassador Arkwright is most
qualified and would be a strong Chair, but
Arkwright categorically has stated that he does not
want the position. Lohman considered French
Ambassador Blarel the next best choice, but is
concerned that he would not be well advised by his
new deputy. Luxembourg Ambassador Hoscheit has
experience in the UN Security Council, but a tiny
staff. Lohman thought that Hoscheit might be
persuaded to take the job, and said the Dutch might
be able to provide some support for his time as
Chairman under Benelux cooperation. Luxembourg
traded its term on the Council with Belgium, who
will hold the rotating European Union Presidency in
the second half of 2010. Lohman also thought it
too early to rule out the Turkish Ambassador.
While he agreed that a new Turkish Director-General
and a Turkish EC Chair might be awkward, he thought
it possible.


7. (SBU) In the Quad lunch on January 15, UK
Delegate Wolstenholme noted that London had ruled
out her Ambassador taking the chairmanship, since
the UK had chaired the working group for the Second
Review Conference for 18 months, and the second
delegate position had been slashed. French
Delegate Rabia did not comment on her Ambassador's
availability. German Ambassador Burkart noted that
he had detected some interest when he met with the
Luxembourg Ambassador, but that Hoscheit had
declined on the excuse of limited staffing.
Burkart plans to continue to pursue a candidate for
this critical leadership post.

--------------
"SITUATIONS UNFORESEEN"
--------------


8. (SBU) During the WEOG meeting on January 12,
Facilitator Michel Hurley (Ireland) started his
update by noting that the TS suddenly has become
seized with the issue. Hurley has been working
with Legal Advisor Onate on a paper to circulate in
advance of his next consultation; he plans to
circulate the paper and have a consultation in the
second half of January and then meet again in
February before the next EC session for a follow-up
consultation on his paper. Hurley said he is
concerned with protecting the mandate given to him
by the EC in October and keeping the consultation
from being stretched in various directions.
However, he indicated that the draft guidelines
could be useful in considering Iraq's destruction
of its chemical weapons (CW).


9. (SBU) Italian Delegate Giuseppe Cornacchia
questioned the title chosen for Hurley's
consultations claiming that nothing is unforeseen
in the Convention. Cornacchia also raised concern
with linking Hurley's consultation with Iraq,
questioning the rationale for such a linkage.
Delrep and UK Delegate Wolstenholme echoed
Cornacchia's sentiments on not including Iraq in
Hurley's consultation. German Ambassador Burkart
QHurley's consultation. German Ambassador Burkart
questioned the motivation for the TS inserting
itself into the issue and also echoed Cornacchia's
comments on the need for clarifying the title
"unforeseen circumstances." Spanish Ambassador
Prat y Coll and Dutch Ambassador Lohman both voiced
concern at provisions in the South African paper
(circulated before Hurley's first consultation in
November) to include Iraqi destruction of its
declared CW stockpile as an "unforeseen situation."
Hurley clarified that he is not including the terms
or concepts of control and possession in his paper
and that, as facilitator, he will guide discussions
appropriately.


10. (SBU) While meeting with Delreps on January 13,
Dutch Ambassador Lohman opined that, in its draft
paper, South Africa had exposed its true intentions
of including Iraq in the discussion on "unforeseen
circumstances". Lohman also claimed that Hurley is
under tremendous pressure from South African
Ambassador Peter Goosen. He then went on to
express general concern with Goosen's attempts to
sideline the TS and foment distrust, as well as
Goosen's bullying of other African delegations into
supporting South African positions and initiatives.


10. (SBU) Facilitator Hurley phoned Delrep on
January 15 and said he would be sending an advance
copy of his draft paper by the end of the day,
along with notes on his thinking (copy sent to
ISN/CB). Given the time remaining before the
Executive Council, he will circulate the paper
early the week of January 18, but welcomes
feedback. He expects lots of comments, both public
and private, and will likely need to produce a
second draft between his consultations (tentatively
set for January 28 and February 11). Delrep
arranged to meet with Hurley on January 22 to
discuss the draft paper (and any initial
responses).


12. ACTION REQUEST: Del requests feedback on the
draft paper and guidance for the January 28
consultation on this issue.

--------------
2012 DEADLINE
--------------


13. (SBU) As reported in Ref A, Delreps met with EC
Chairman Lomonaco on January 12 to discuss his
consultation on issues related to the 2012
destruction deadline. Delreps also discussed the
issue with Dutch Ambassador Lohman on January 13.
Lohman described Lomonaco's planned tact of
focusing initially on practical considerations as a
clever approach and said that Lomonaco should be
supported. While Lohman thought that Iran and
others would not like the approach, he thought it
was useful to move away from the debate on non-
compliance and open up discussion of the future of
the OPCW. However, during the Quad lunch on
January 15, German Ambassador Burkart instantly
expressed doubts whether Lomonaco could
successfully focus discussion away from the non-
compliance issue, saying that discussion of
practical considerations will be seen purely as a
diversionary tactic.

--------------
TS ON LIBYA
--------------


14. (SBU) On January 12, TDY Delreps met with Horst
Reeps, Director Verification Division, and Yaugen
Ryzhykau, Senior Chemical Demilitarization Officer,
to discuss Libyan progress on its conversion and
destruction sites. The last TS visit to Rabta was
during June-July last year, where they found the
Rabta destruction site "exceptionally clean" with
no apparent construction. The TS is operating
under the assumption that the Rabta conversion was
complete as of December 31, 2009, in accordance
with Libyan obligations, and the next inspection to
Qwith Libyan obligations, and the next inspection to
certify conversion will be at the end of January or
early February. They will drive by the destruction
site at that time and see what, if anything, is
happening there, but will not be authorized to stop
there.


15. (SBU) For the Ruwagha storage facility, the TS
conducted an inspection in December. The
inspection team saw no signs of construction
activity on the burner or hydrolysis lagoons
necessary for pinacolyl alcohol, isopropanol,
thionyl chloride and phosphorus trichloride
destruction. The Libyans plan to start operations
in late March at Ruwagha, but only "described on
fingers" to the TS team how they were going to do
it.


16. (SBU) The TS said the Rabta Destruction
Facility Agreement and the general plan for
destruction have not been modified to include the
changes in category 2 destruction at Ruwagha. On
November 17, 2009, the TS sent a letter to the
Libyan government requesting information. The TS
has received no response and will send a second
letter next week.


17. (SBU) Ryzhykau indicated that recently whenever
the TS meets with the Libyans, particularly the
Head of the National Authority (who is also
commander of the chemical corps),they get
political lectures about various topics ranging
from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Libya's
not receiving proper support since it gave up its
weapons of mass destruction.


18. (SBU) DEL COMMENT: When the delegation
requested a meeting with the Libyan delegation
during the TDY experts' visit the week of January
11, the Libyan PermRep requested a non-paper to
forward the request to Tripoli. In the previous
meeting (Ref B),we requested additional
information from the Libyan government that has not
been forthcoming.


19. (U) BEIK SENDS.

LEVIN