| CNN | - |
(CNN)
-- Russia and the United States, in their third day of talks in
Switzerland, said Saturday they have reached a groundbreaking deal on a
framework to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons.
U.S., Russia agree to framework on Syria chemical weapons
updated 6:28 PM EDT, Sat September 14, 2013
U.S., Russia reach deal on Syria
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Kerry: Syria must list its stockpile within a week
- He says inspectors must be on the ground by November
- Chemical weapons must be destroyed by mid-2014, Kerry says
- Syria's prime minister welcomes the deal
Secretary of State John
Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stood side by side in
Geneva as they set out a series of steps the Syrian government must
follow.
Syria must submit a
comprehensive list of its chemical weapons stockpile within one week,
Kerry said, and international inspectors must be on the ground no later
than November.
President Barack Obama
said in a statement that the framework "represents an important concrete
step toward the goal of moving Syria's chemical weapons under
international control so that they may ultimately be destroyed."
He added, "There are
consequences should the Assad regime not comply with the framework
agreed today. And, if diplomacy fails, the United States remains
prepared to act."
Senior U.S. State
Department officials said that according to the timeline, initial
inspections of declared chemical weapons sites must be completed by
November; all production and mixing and filling equipment must be
destroyed by November; and all chemical weapons material must be
eliminated by mid-2014.
The best way to ensure
international control of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal will be to
remove as much as is feasible and to destroy it outside Syria, if
possible, the framework document says.
Kerry said the government
of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must allow "immediate and
unfettered" access to international inspectors.
He said the inspectors
should be able to get to Syria's chemical weapons sites despite the
ongoing civil war, provided the al-Assad regime cooperates, since Syria
has moved its chemical weapons into areas where it has tight control.
The United States and
Russia reached a shared assessment on the amount and type of chemical
weapons possessed by the al-Assad regime, Kerry said.
"Providing this
framework is fully implemented, it can end the threat these weapons pose
not only to the Syrian people but also their neighbors," and the wider
world, he said.
Syrian Prime Minister
Wael Nader al-Halqi welcomed the deal, saying his country is bent on
implementing the political program as the "sole exit" from the crisis,
according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
Enforcement measures
The verification and
destruction process will be carried out by personnel from both the
United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons, the body that implements the international ban on chemical
weapons use, according to the framework agreement.
Russia and the United
States will now work to get a U.N. Security Council resolution that will
keep the process under review and allow the Council to consider the use
of force if Syria fails to comply.
Russia has veto power in
the Security Council and would be unlikely to agree to using force.
Other options include imposing sanctions.
Senior State Department
officials told reporters that Saturday's agreement "sends a very
powerful message" about the use of chemical weapons but acknowledged
that the goal of eliminating them in Syria by the middle of next year is
"daunting."
The United States and
Russia "agree that Syria has a stockpile that includes chemical warfare
agents as well as the precursors for those agents," judged to be about
1,000 tons in total, the officials said.
"We agree that it
includes blister agents such as sulfur or mustard (gas) as well as nerve
agents such as sarin," they said. But the number of locations for these
agents has still to be agreed, they added.
The United States and
its allies blame al-Assad's forces for the chemical weapons attack
outside Syria's capital last month that they say killed more than 1,400
people.
Al-Assad and other officials vehemently deny their forces were responsible.
U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said Friday his team is preparing a report for the Security
Council that he believes will be an "overwhelming report that chemical
weapons were used." The report is expected to be delivered Monday
morning, according to three diplomatic sources.
Syrian opposition fears
The Syrian opposition struck a note of skepticism.
Gen. Salim Idriss, head
of the rebel Free Syrian Army, told reporters in Istanbul he has
information that Syria already started to move chemical materials and
weapons out of the country, into Lebanon and Iraq.
He predicted that
al-Assad would keep some of his chemical weapons arsenal, and "then use
it against our people and the FSA and then he will come out and accuse
terrorists, and he will say that he gave up everything he has."
The Syrian government refers to the opposition fighters as terrorists and has previously accused them of chemical weapons use.
Some inside Syria
criticized the focus on chemical weapons. Protesters in one town held up
a banner in Arabic saying they are "worried that the international
community is giving Assad a license to kill with all kinds of weapons
except the use of chemical weapons."
Hopes for peace
French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius said the U.S.-Russian agreement "constitutes an important
step forward," a sentiment echoed by UK Foreign Secretary William
Hague.
The two plan to meet Kerry on Monday in Paris to discuss the framework and its implementation.
Ban pledged U.N. support
for the plan, his spokesman said, and expressed hope that it would both
prevent any future use of chemical weapons and pave the way for a
political solution in Syria.
Kerry and Lavrov announced the deal on their third day of talks.
Friday, they signaled
their intent to meet later this month on the sidelines of the U.N.
General Assembly in New York, where they hope to set a date to restart
long-stalled parallel talks on the broader issue of ending the Syrian
civil war.
The U.N. estimates more
than 100,000 people have been killed since the civil war began in 2011,
in addition to more than 2 million becoming refugees and over 4 million
being displaced within Syria.
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