16/01/2014 18:19
Syria chemical weapons: Security 'slows transport'
The head of the UN body tasked with removing and destroying Syria's chemical arsenal says the process has been slowed down by security concerns, the BBC reports.
Ahmet Uzumcu said the amount of chemicals transported to the Syrian port of Latakia for shipping so far was not that high.
But he expressed confidence the arms would be destroyed by the end of June.
Removing the most dangerous chemicals is the first step of a UN-backed deal to eliminate Syria's chemical arsenal.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) set a deadline of 31 March for this first stage, with all Syria's chemical arms stockpile to be destroyed by 30 June.
Mr Uzumcu said the delays were due to technical problems and the obvious difficulties of operating in a warzone.
But he said additional measures had been put in place to help smooth the transportation.
The OPCW would "do our best to meet" the end of June deadline, he added.
Mr Uzumcu was speaking in Rome, where he sought to calm local concerns about plans an Italian port will play a part in the operation.
The port has not been named, but Italy's government is widely expected to announce later on Thursday that it is Gioia Tauro, in the far south.
The Syrian authorities are responsible for packing and safely transporting the chemical weapons to Latakia.
Denmark and Norway are providing cargo ships and military escorts to take them to Italy, where they will be loaded onto a US Maritime Administration cargo ship, MV Cape Ray.
The materials will then be destroyed by a process known as hydrolysis in international waters.
It had been hoped that several hundred tonnes of the most dangerous raw materials would have been removed by now, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome, but so far only a fraction of the stockpile has been collected.