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Albania Rejects U.S. Request To Destroy Syrian Chemical Weapons

November 15, 2013
by RFE/RL's Balkan Service

Albania has rejected a U.S. request to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons on its soil.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, at a news conference on November 15, said that 'it is impossible for Albania to take part in the operation.' Rama said Albania lacked the 'capacity' to carry out such a task.

But reports of a deal had sparked an outcry among Albanians, with thousands of people in the past week demonstrating against such an operation.

Albania, France, and Belgium were reportedly being considered as possible sites for the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal.

Albania is a NATO member and a staunch U.S. ally.

In Tirana, several thousand people took to the streets on November 15 to await the government's decision.

Rama's announcement, broadcast live on giant television screens on Tirana's main square, was greeted by a loud cheer from the crowd.

The U.S. Embassy in Tirana said it respected the Albanian decision and was confident the Syrian chemical arsenal would be eliminated within the agreed timeframe.

Syria has an estimated 1,000-metric ton chemical arsenal.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was meeting in The Hague on November 15 to discuss a detailed timetable for the stockpile's destruction.

An OPCW meeting had been adjourned earlier in the day to await Albania's decision.
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In September, Syria agreed to destroy its entire chemical-weapons stockpile in a deal brokered by Russia and the United States.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to the deal after the United States threatened military strikes in the wake of a sarin-gas attack that killed hundreds of people near Damascus in August.

Under a UN Security Council resolution, Syria's chemical weapons have to be destroyed by June 30, 2014.

Albania eliminated its own communist-era chemical weapons arsenal in 2007 with U.S. technical and financial assistance.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/albania-syria-chemical-weapons/25169650.html

Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.