UN: Syrian chemical weapons, though delayed, can be destroyed by deadline

SOCHI, Russia, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the delayed destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, saying Friday that the process is moving forward and expected to be completed on time.

The secretary-general spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the Sochi Winter Olympics, where he was participating in the opening ceremony.

When asked about Syrian chemical weapons destruction, Ban Ki-moon stated:

"I believe that this process is moving on rather smoothly even though there have been some delays. When I met the Foreign Minister of Syria, Mr. Moallem, in [Montreux] last week he assured me that this chemical weapons destruction process will continue as scheduled. There are of course some security concerns. There are many countries now providing their logistical support and the technological support to destroy these chemical weapons as soon as possible. Now, our target is June 30 this year. This may be a very tight target but I believe it can be done with the support of the Syrian Government, I expect that they will do it, and also full logistical and political support from many countries."

On Thursday at UN headquarters in New York, Security Council President Raimonda Murmokaite of Lithuania told reporters that the Council had convened earlier to discuss the matter and called upon Syria to "expedite actions to meet its obligations to transport in a systematic and sufficiently accelerated manner all the relevant materials to Latakia … and to intensify its efforts to expedite in-country movement."

[United Nations]