Norway rejects US demand to destroy Syria CWs

Norway rejects US demand to destroy Syria CWs
Fri Oct 25, 2013 14:13:27

Norway has rejected a US request to help destroy Syria's chemical arms, arguing that the Nordic nation was an unsuitable site because it lacked suitable staff, equipment and regulations.

Washington asked NATO-member Norway last month to help destroy some of Syria's chemical arsenal in a deal brokered with Moscow after an alleged August attack in the suburbs of Damascus. Several other nations are also being asked.

The Norwegian foreign ministry said on Friday that the country had given "serious and thorough consideration" to the US request but it was not best suited "due to time constraints and external factors, such as capacities, regulatory requirements".

"The two nations have come to the joint understanding that Norway is not the most suitable location for this destruction," a statement said.

On Wednesday, new Foreign Minister Boerge Brende told a news conference that Norway lacked equipment and that Norwegian law would ban storage of the waste.

That meant other countries would first have to guarantee to import and store the destroyed chemicals after they were treated in Norway, he said. Norway could use a US mobile destruction unit but winter cold could be a disadvantage, he said.

Disarmament experts from the international chemical weapons watchdog have started destroying Syria's arsenal and the work will continue mid-2014.

NTJ/BA

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