WORLD_ SYRIA_ Belgium becomes fourth country to refuse to destroy Syria's chemical arsenal

Belgium becomes fourth country to refuse to destroy Syria's chemical arsenal

The hunt continues for a country willing to accept Syria's poisonous stockpile for destruction on its soil




Pieter De Crem, the Belgian defence minister, ruled his country out of consideration on Monday Photo: FILIP CLAUS/AFP


By David Blair, and David Hopkins
8:00PM GMT 18 Nov 2013


Belgium has become the fourth country to refuse to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons on its soil as the hunt continued for a nation willing to shoulder the task.

The international plan to rid Syria of its arsenal of poison gas has run into an unexpected obstacle: no nation has so far agreed to accept the munitions for destruction. Albania, Norway, Belgium and France have all been approached - and all declined.

Pieter De Crem, the Belgian defence minister, ruled his country out of consideration on Monday. Belgium had been approached because of its experience in disposing of chemical weapons left on the battlefields of the First World War.

Ralph Trapp, a consultant on disarming chemical weapons, said there “remain very few candidates” now for the task of destroying Syria’s stockpile, which totals 1,300 tons.

”Many countries are accustomed to destroying the older chemical weapons, but the destruction of the relatively new nerve agents such as sarin, requires a different process,” he said.


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America and Russia could both do the job, but US law prohibits the importation of chemical weapons for destruction. Meanwhile, Russia says that its facilities remain overwhelmed by the task of destroying its own chemical arsenal.

In the end, however, Mr Trapp predicted that the most likely solution would be for Russia, a close ally of the Syrian regime, to accept the burden. Norway has volunteered to provide a cargo ship to transport the weapons out of Syria to their final destination.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has agreed an ambitious plan to destroy Syria’s declared arsenal. The most deadly chemicals are supposed to be sent out of the country by Dec 31, with the entire stockpile exported by Feb 5 and the final liquidation completed by June 30.

”It is not known yet where this will take place,” said a spokesman for the OPCW in The Hague, adding that “it will be known in due course”.

The fact that no country has accepted the task does not yet pose a problem.

“There is not an immediate necessity for us to know at this stage,” said the spokesman. “Before we get there, there are a number of steps to be taken. What matters today is the first deadline in the plan - the deadline of 31 Dec for removing the most toxic chemicals from Syria.”



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