US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE494

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 000494 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AC/CB, NP/CBM, VC/CCB, L/ACV, IO/S 
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISP 
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC 
COMMERCE FOR BIS (GOLDMAN) 
NSC FOR CHUPA 
WINPAC FOR LIEPMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2014 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, LY, CWC 
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): REPORT ON OPCW 
TECHNICAL EXPERTS VISIT TO LIBYA 
 
 
Classified By: Eric M. Javits, US Ambassador to the OPCW for reasons 1. 
5 (b) and (d). 
 
 This is CWC-27-04. 
 
1.  (C)  Horst Reeps, head of the Verification Division of 
the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons 
(OPCW), provided a February 25 read-out to the U.S. and U.K. 
delegations on the Technical Secretariat (TS) visit to Libya 
on February 16-23.  Reeps said the objectives were to assist 
Libya with its initial declaration, its creation of a 
National Authority, its drafting of national legislation, and 
to clarify logistical and other administrative issues 
regarding Libya's hosting of future TS inspections. 
 
2.  (C)  Reeps reported that as of February 23, Libya's 
initial declaration to be presented on March 5 was 95 percent 
complete.  Modules on industry (no scheduled chemical 
production facilities, eleven "Other Chemical Production 
Facilities"), storage facilities, and chemical weapon 
munition destruction (the latter provided by the UK and faxed 
back to AC/CB) were complete, while that of the three CW 
Production Facilities (Rabta building 17a, 17b, and the 
filling station) and chemical weapon agent destruction plan 
were nearly complete.  The declaration is currently in 
English, but will be submitted to the TS in Arabic.  Del reps 
requested a copy of the English declaration held by the TS, 
but Reeps said he could not obtain a copy for either the U.S. 
or the UK without alerting unnecessary attention to the 
request. 
 
3.  (C)  Reeps also reported that two members of the TS 
Technical Assistance Visit (TAV) team remained in Libya to 
monitor the munition destruction as agreed in the plan 
negotiated between Libya and the TS.  The 3000 unfilled 
munitions were transferred to Al Jufra, and a three-person 
inspection team will arrive in Libya on February 26 for an 
initial inspection of Al Jufra.  They will stay to monitor 
destruction of the unfilled munitions, which will begin 
February 27.  Reeps reported that Libya chose to use the 
destruction by bulldozer approach rather than by hydraulic 
press because the former would destroy the unfilled munitions 
faster. 
 
4.  (C)  Reeps reported that two members of the TAV visited 
Rabta.  Discussion centered on whether the difluor (DF) line 
in the civilian part of building 17 needed to be destroyed. 
The TS opinion is that the DF line must go, although much 
discussion is on-going regarding conversion of the remaining 
areas.  Reeps relayed that the Office of the Legal Advisor 
and Ralf Trapp, special assistant to the Deputy DG, were 
considering favorably a future Libyan conversion request. 
Reeps said that he believed that when the CWC was drafted, 
this situation was not taken into account, so that conversion 
in cases such as this should be possible. 
 
5.  (C) Reeps reported that TS legal expert Lisa Tabassi was 
presented an "empty book," and that future visits will be 
needed to work on drafting implementing legislation.  He 
predicted that one of the Libyan OCPFs will be selected for 
inspection this year.  Currently, the TS estimates that there 
is circa 25 tons of CW agent, but final amounts will vary due 
to leakage and other issues.  Libya still is considering 
incinerating its agent and precursors, but Reeps believes 
that this is impractical and that a better approach would be 
hydrolyzation with bleach followed by entombment in concrete 
pyramids.  Reeps noted with amusement that a Polish company 
offered to ship the agent to Poland for destruction there. 
He also noted that in a storage area on the outskirts of 
Tripoli, there is sufficient equipment to set up two 
additional production lines.  The equipment had been intended 
for the CW program, but was dual use and the TS is 
considering what needed to be destroyed. 
 
6.  (C)  Reeps reported that there will be two teams in Libya 
from March 11-22.  One will be at Rabta, the other will be 
doing an inventory of CW agent and precurors to verify 
Libya's declared quantities.  He also supplied Del reps with 
copies of the following documents, all faxed to AC/CB on 
February 25: 
-- the Libyan request for a Technical Assistance Visit, 
-- the list of Libyan and TS participants in the February 17 
meeting, 
-- the TS Libya Situation Reports, 
-- the CWC Italian Delegation list of participations in the 
February 16 meetings with Libya, 
-- the draft agreed plan for the verification of category 
three chemical weapons, 
-- the general plan for the destruction of chemical weapons, 
-- the draft agreed detailed plan for the destruction of 
category three chemical weapons at Al Jufra, and 
-- a memorandum from Reeps to the DG and the DDG regarding 
the on-going destruction of category three chemical weapons 
in Libya. 
 
7.  (U)  Javits sends. 
SOBEL