UN CHIEF URGES SYRIAN REGIME TO TRANSFER CHEMICAL WEAPONS

New York, 5 Zul-qaadah 1434/10 September 2013 (MINA) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he would propose to the Security Council that it unite and demand an immediate chemical weapons transfer should UN inspectors conclude that such weapons were used in an attack on August 21 in a suburb of Damascus.

“I will demand from the Security Council to request the removal of the chemical weapons stocks of Syria to a place in the country and the annihilation of these in a convenient way,” Ban said, speaking shortly after Moscow’s announcement that it urged Syria to move its chemical weapons to areas under international control to avoid a U.S. military strike.

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Ban said also was considering asking the Council to demand accountability for an alleged chemical weapons attack, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Previous, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov had urged Syrian regime to put its chemical weapons stockpile under “international surveillance” if this would avert any military intervention.

“If the establishment of international control over chemical weapons in that country would allow avoiding strikes, we will immediately start working with Damascus,” Lavrov said.

“I welcome these ideas. In fact, as I said in my introductory remarks, I have already been considering certain proposals that I could make to the Security Council when I present the investigation team’s report,” Ban said.

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“And I urge again [that] Syria should become party to the OPCW [Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons].”

Damascus has welcomed Russia’s call to hand control over its chemical weapons to the international surveillance.

The Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said responding to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statement after the two met in the Russian capital.

“Syria welcomes Russia’s initiative, based on the Syrian government’s care about the lives of our people and security of our country,” al-Muallem said, according to Russian news agencies Itar-Tass and Ria-Novosti. (T/P09/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).