Ban welcomes Syria's 'commitment' to observe CW convention obligations

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon late Thursday welcomed the Syrian letter informing him that President Bashar Al-Assad has signed the legislative decree providing for the accession of Syria to the 1992 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, his press office said in a statement. In the letter, the Syrian authorities have expressed their "commitment to observe the obligations entailed by the Convention even before its entry into force for Syria," the statement added. Although Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari had told reporters earlier in the day that "legally speaking, Syria has become, starting today, a full member of the Convention," a UN official argued that a country becomes a full member of the Convention only 30 days after it deposits its accession instruments with the Secretary-General. What Ja'afari meant, the official explained, is that Syria will honor all its obligations under the Convention during the 30 days leading to its actual accession, which starts today, September 13th until October 12th. Ban "welcomes this development," the statement said, noting that, as depository of the Convention, he has long called for universal accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention. He also expressed hope that given recent events, the current talks in Geneva between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, will lead to "speedy agreement" on a way forward which will be endorsed and assisted by the international community. The Syrian move is part of a Russian proposal put out last Monday calling on Syria to join the Convention, put its stockpile of chemical weapons under international control and eventually get rid of them. The proposal was meant to bypass a US limited military strike on Syria to punish the regime for gassing hundreds of civilians. Ban is scheduled to brief the Security Council on Monday on the findings of the investigation team, headed by Ake Sellstrom, probing the use of chemical weapons in Syria on August 21 near the capital Damascus.