16/11/2013 10:13
Albanian 'No' deals blow to Syria chemical weapons plan
Albania rejected on Friday a U.S. request to host the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, dealing a blow to a U.S.-Russian accord to eliminate the nerve agents from the country's protracted civil war, Reuters reported.
Negotiations went down to the wire, delaying the scheduled adoption on Friday of a step-by-step plan to get rid of 1,300 metric tons of Syria's sarin, mustard and other agents.
Albania's refusal marked an unprecedented break from its traditionally staunch allegiance to NATO ally Washington. It followed a storm of protest in the Adriatic republic, where protesters complained of exploitation.
"It is impossible for Albania to get involved in this operation," Prime Minister Edi Rama, just two months in the job, said in a televised address to the nation.
"We lack the necessary capacities to get involved in this operation," he said, following days of growing protests outside government buildings.
Hundreds of demonstrators, including students cutting school classes, gathered to denounce the plan on Friday, "NO" painted on their faces.
There was no immediate indication where the United States or Russia might look next to dispose of thousands of tons of toxic waste.
Friday was the deadline for the details of the plan to be agreed by Damascus and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.
"There will be no host country in the decision this afternoon," an OPCW source said. "But they (the United States) have alternatives." The source did not elaborate.
Faced with the threat of U.S. missile strikes, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September agreed to destroy the entire chemical weapons stockpile following a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of people in Damascus on August 21.
Washington said only Assad's forces could have carried out the attack, a charge the Syrian leader denied.