US and Britain question Syria's motives over slow chemical weapons handover

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

US and Britain question Syria's motives over slow chemical weapons handover

Ian Black, Middle East editor
The Guardian, Thursday 30 January 2014 17.26 GMT

The US and Britain have expressed concern over the Syrian government's delay in removing chemical weapons materials due to be destroyed under an international disarmament deal.

Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, revealed on Thursday that he had asked his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, to pressure Damascus to comply with the agreement, and urged the Syrian government to intensify efforts to transport chemical arms to Latakia port for destruction.

"I do not know what the Syrian government's motives are - if this is incompetence - or why they are behind in delivering these materials," Hagel told reporters in Warsaw. "They need to fix this."

Hagel's comments followed a strongly worded statement on Thursday by the US ambassador to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is working jointly with the UN on the disarmament project. "The effort to remove chemical agent and key precursor chemicals from Syria has seriously languished and stalled," said Robert Mikulak. So far, only 4% of "priority one" chemicals declared by Syria had been removed, and roughly the same percentage of "priority two" chemicals. The OPCW, based in The Hague, declined to comment but said it would be issuing a statement on Friday.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/30/us-questions-syria-motives-slow-chemical-weapons-handover

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. USA has more chemical weapons than Syria

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.
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and are WAY behind on their promises to get rid of them . .

pot

kettle

CC