Roundup: Probes into alleged chemical weapon use in Syria heat up debate at OPCW meeting

by Maria Vasileiou

THE HAGUE, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The existing disagreements on aspects of the investigations into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria heated up the general debate of the State Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), whose delegates are attending the one-week annual conference of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) held here.

On Monday, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad reiterated, at the opening of the conference, Syria's denial of such accusations blaming Syria for the use of chemical weapons, saying the investigation reports were "without any tangible evidence" and its work needs to be reviewed.

He deplored that "hostile states" have led the international investigation to produce reports "lacking professionalism and reaching wrong findings".

The use of chemical weapons in conflicts in Syria in recent years has been confirmed by three reports carried out by the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), while the United Nations-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), in its latest report blamed the Syrian air force for a sarin gas attack on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhun in April. The finding was rejected by Damascus.

Speaking on behalf of the United States, Andrea Hall of the U.S. National Security Council, reiterated Washington's stance that the JIM is an "independent and impartial international body of experts".

"We will again seek UN action on the latest JIM conclusions," she pledged.

The EU said "it is unacceptable that four years after joining the Convention, Syria's declaration can still not be verified as accurate and complete".

Defending Damascus on the second day of the conference, Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Georgy Kalamanov criticized the work of the FFM as "remotely investigating without actually showing on site and seeing evidence collected by Syrian opposition", and taking on "unprofessional and politically biased working methods".

Kalamanov added that the Syrian authorities "have been unprecedentedly open" in talking about the history of their military and chemical program, while working together with the OPCW.

He underlined that after the OPCW has confirmed the full elimination of Syria's chemical weapon potential, the "so-called chemical dossier on this CWC member state has only heated up". He accused "certain group of countries that are acting in their own political interest".

Russia and the United States are at odds on whether to renew the mandate of JIM. Russia last month vetoed a U.S.-sponsored draft resolution at the UN Security Council. After that, the United States and Russia have circulated competing draft resolutions among council members for consideration. Russia demands a modification of JIM's mandate, while the United States and its allies want to maintain the current JIM mandate. The mandate of the JIM expired on Nov. 17.

China supports the relevant OPCW and UN bodies in conducting full, objective and impartial investigations of the incidents, and come to conclusions which are based on solid evidences and will stand the test of time and facts, said Wu Ken, China's permanent representative to OPCW on Tuesday.

"It is China's hope that the parties concerned will bear in mind the maintenance of the unity of the OPCW, comply with the provisions of the Convention in earnest, hold consultations patiently, work to create favorable conditions for a proper and equitable solution to the issue of the Syrian chemical weapons, and bring about a positive atmosphere for the next phase of a political settlement of the Syrian issue," said Wu, who is also China's Ambassador to The Netherlands.

Pakistan's representative called upon "the stakeholders to reach out to each other and achieve a consensus on the composition and mandate of the JIM-FFM to give credence to its works in the future", while also stressing the need for investigations to be "fair and transparent". Enditem