UN report progress to date on Syria's chemical weapons elimination process

Sigrid Kaag, Special Coordinator of OPCW-UN Joint Mission on eliminating Syria's chemical weapons programme, said there is "progress to date" and "constructive cooperation" of the Syrian authorities to finish the job by mid 2014, at a time US Ambassador Samantha Power said "there is nothing yet to celebrate." The Joint Mission "benefited from very quick and constructive collaboration (from Damascus). That's perhaps what I think. We count on continued close collaboration, and a number of member states noted the need to keep up the momentum as the deadline approaches," Kaag told reporters following her closed-door meeting with Security Council members. Asked how and where Syria's chemical weapons will be destroyed, she said experts representing the Syrian government, The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations are discussing the matter this week in The Hague and decisions will be made by November 15. She admitted that the experts are operating in active war-zones, and that the conflict is of "daily concern," adding that "we make our security assessment on ongoing basis and we will continue to do so." US Ambassador Samantha Power later told reporters "I want to stress that the onus remains on the Assad regime to fulfill all its obligations under the OPCW-UN agreement, to fully and verifiably eliminate its CW programme. There is nothing yet to celebrate, but it is significant that we have made significant progress towards taking away a potent weapon of war and terror from Assad and his forces. "More work, of course, remains to be done to ensure that the Syrian Government's list of declared sites is comprehensive and that the process remains on track, particularly as we enter the destruction phase which will be complicated," she added. She stressed that the CW agreement and implementation "have not changed the US position on Assad. A man who gasses his people and who uses scuds and all other forms of terror against his people, is not fit to govern his people. "It remains the US commitment to ensure that a red light for one type of weapon does not become a green light for others. Elimination Syria's chemical weapons is not a substitute for ending the violence engulfing the country," she stressed. Asked if the US does not have full confidence in the regime and that it might be hiding something, she said "it is important today to focus on the fact that the declared sites have been visited, there has been cooperation and that the equipment has been destroyed. "You will certainly hear from us in the event that we detect non-compliance or significant discrepancies in their declaration," she said, recalling that the US skepticism is built on "years dealing with this regime, years of obfuscation and a lot of broken promises." On the humanitarian situation in Syria, she said "we've seen what the Assad regime can do when it is held accountable. And indeed what this Council can do when it is united as it was on Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles. We must work with a similar sense of urgency to address the devastating, deteriorating humanitarian situation on the ground." Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin praised the Syrian Government for its "good cooperation," adding "we are concerned that there are armed opposition groups on the ground which may stage some kind of provocations which might be particularly dangerous during the next stage of the elimination of the banned weapons." He said he reminded Council members who have influence on various armed opposition groups on the ground that "it is their responsibility to respect and carry out" the provisions of resolution 2118 on the elimination of Syria's CW. Asked if Russia is ready for a resolution on the humanitarian situation in Syria, since there is cooperation and momentum, Churkin said "what to do now is not to jump from one document to another, but to implement the one we have." On whether Russia will destroy Syria's CW, he said "Russia is not going to do the actual destruction of the CW, but its participation is quite possible."