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As
US
Proposes to
Off-Shore
Syrian
Chemical
Weapons, Where
Is UN's Trust
Fund?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 30 --
After even
countries
pressured by
the United
States like
Albania
decided they
could not host
the
destruction of
Syria's
chemical
weapons, now
the
Organization
for the
Prevention of
Chemical
Weapons has
announced that
"the
United States
has
offered to
contribute a
destruction
technology,
full
operational
support and
financing to
neutralise
Syrias
priority
chemicals,
which are to
be removed
from the
country by 31
December...
Currently
a suitable
naval vessel
is undergoing
modifications
to support the
operations and
to accommodate
verification
activities by
the OPCW."
If the
ship is
already
"undergoing
modifications,"
the plan
is far along.
But will it be
US government
personnel
doing the
destruction?
Or some
outside
contractor yet
to be
announced?
The
OPCW itself
has
acknowledged
it has
procurement
rules; it has
referred to
its chemical
weapons trust
fund. Inner
City Press
again
on November 29
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
spokespeople
where and when
the
information
about the UN's
trust fund
will be
published, a
question
still not
answered.
When
Sigrid Kaag
took questions
at the UN in
New York on
November 5,
Inner City
Press
asked her
about the
trust fund and
she said it
was important,
it
would be soon.
Video
here, from
Minute 3:16.
So where is
it?
Meanwhile,
the
UN
on November 29
did confirm
to Inner City
Press what the
Swedish
government
first
announced: a
further delay
in Ake
Sellstom's
second
chemical
weapons
report,
including on
Khan al-Asal,
to
December 13
(or as the UN
puts it, "mid
December"
after
having said
"late October"
then "early
December").
Click
here for that.
The
OPCW trust
fund concludes
that Director
General Ahmet
Üzümcü
"invited
Member States
to also
consider
providing
in-kind
contributions
by contracting
companies to
conduct
destruction
activities."
Contributions
BY contracting
companies? Or
TO these
for-profit
companies?
Watch this
site.
* * *
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