Denmark to help with shipping of Syria chemical arms
Denmark said Friday it would provide transport and security for the international effort to destroy Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons, after receiving a request from the UN.
“The UN has contacted Denmark about sending a personal protection team for the leaders of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) delegation,” Denmark’s development minister, Christian Friis Bach, told AFP.
“We have also received a request to contribute to the maritime transport capacity, which … we also view very positively,” he added.
“This is a solid contribution to the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria.”
The government received the UN request on Wednesday, according to a foreign ministry spokesman.
Denmark’s contribution will be announced after the OPCW — which is currently inspecting chemical weapons’ production and storage sites in Syria — adopts a roadmap for their destruction on November 15.
Under UN Security Council Resolution 2118 passed in September, Syria’s entire chemical arsenal, estimated at about 1,000 tonnes, is to be destroyed by June 30.
Washington has contacted several of its allies, including Belgium and France, for possible help in destroying Syria’s chemical arsenal, a Belgian foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
Norway has ruled out accommodating a US request to help destroy the arms on its soil, saying the schedule was too tight.
US and Russia expect chemical weapons to be removed from Syria by the end of 2013 and completely destroyed by the end of 2014 – half a year earlier than the OPCW initially planned, Reuters reports citing an OPCW draft document.
Earlier, there were reports that the Executive Committee of the OPCW would approve a detailed plan on removing and destroying the Syrian chemical weapons on November 15.
Last week, the OPCW announced that the first stage of the process of destroying the chemical weapons and equipment in Syria. Besides, all the facilities used for manufacturing chemical weapons were sealed.
At the moment, the possibility of transporting the chemical weapons arsenal outside Syria is discussed.
According to OPCW data, Damascus possesses 1,300 tons of chemical substances and precursors, used for manufacturing chemical weapons, and more than 1,200 unfilled munitions.
In addition, Syria provided information about 41 buildings and 23 sites used for manufacturing chemical weapons.
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