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17:11 GMT
PARIS, April 2 (KUNA) -- France said on Tuesday that it continued to take
"very seriously" reports that there may have been a chemical weapons use in
the Syrian conflict two weeks ago and urged that the UN investigation into the
alleged incident near Aleppo "complete its work."
The UN has appointed veteran WMD specialist Ake Sellstrom of Sweden to head
up a team that will investigate whether chemical weapons were used on March 19
near the Syrian city that is the centre of bloody battles between government
and opposition forces.
The Syrian regime has accused rebels of using chemical weapons but the
opposition are also alleging chemical use by government forces. Damascus
called on the UN to investigate the incident but there is still no hard
evidence either side is telling the truth about WMD use.
Sellstrom is compiling a team of experts to go on site and he has already
accumulated personal experience in tracing chemical and other WMD weapons in
Iraq, where he was a senior inspector with the UNSCOM body.
"We are taking very seriously the information on chemical weapons use" in
Aleppo, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said.
But he underlined the difficulty of determining "who did what" and even
beyond that, attributing responsibility for any chemical weapons use.
"We are aware of the difficulty in proving use and then with attributing
this to someone," he remarked in answer to KUNA questions.
He said France supported the call by the UN to carry out a mission of
enquiry and the intervention of the UN's Organisation for Prohibiting Chemical
Weapons in The Hague.
France supported moves "to allow this mission to complete its work" and
then there is a process that will move into gear depending on the results.
France, the United States and other Western countries have warned Syria
that any use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer" and would be a
"dramatic error" that would have consequences.
Syria has not signed the international treaty banning chemical weapons and
is believed to have stockpiled a range of such weapons, ranging from basic
mustard gas to more toxic and more dangerous agents like Sarin gas. (end)
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