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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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28Aug14
OPCW reports 93% of Syrian chemical weapons destroyed
UN Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) reported on Thursday that about 93% of the total bulk of Syrian chemical weapons has been destructed up to the present day.
Last week OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu said that a total of 581 metric tons of a precursor chemical for sarin gas and 19 tons of mustard gas were destroyed with two Field Deployable Hydrolysis Systems (FDHS) installed on board the US maritime vessel Cape Ray.
An agreement to destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal was reached last year after consultations between the Russian Federation and the United States. Overall, more than 1,200 tons of poisonous agents have been taken out of Syria, the most toxic of which were loaded onto the Cape Ray and the remaining part was handed to Finland and Britain for disposal. Some of the chemical weapons were destroyed in Syria.
The international deal to destroy Syria's arsenal, mediated in September 2013, prevented a likely United States-led military intervention in the Middle East country.
The process of disarmament in Syria was launched after hundreds of civilians died in a chemical attack made on a Damascus suburb in August 2013. Originally, Syria's chemical weapons were to have been destroyed by June 30, 2014, but the operation was protracted.
Fighting between Syrian government troops and militants has left over 100,000 people dead and displaced millions since its start in 2011, according to UN statistics.
The first two rounds of an international peace conference on Syria, dubbed Geneva-2, organized by Russia and the United States and designed to negotiate a solution to the Syrian crisis, brought no particular progress in January and February. The parties to the Syrian conflict agreed to continue their discussions.
[Source: Itar Tass, The Hague, 28Aug14]
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