Albania rejects request to destroy Syrian weapons

Demonstrators protest against the dismantling of Syrian chemical weapons in Albania in front of the Prime Minister's office in Tirana Thursday Nov. 14, 2013. Albania, a member of NATO, has said it is studying a request by the United States to host facilities for destroying Syria's chemical weapons, but has not yet taken a decision. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

An Albanian student wears a gas mask and holds a sign during a protest against chemical weapons during a protest against the dismantling of Syrian chemical weapons in Albania in front of the Prime Minister's office in Tirana Thursday.

TIRANA, Albania — The international effort to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons was dealt a major blow today when staunch American ally Albania rejected a U.S. request to let the destruction take place on its soil.

The surprise refusal by the small and impoverished Balkan country left the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons without a country to host the eradication of Syria’s estimated 1,000-metric ton arsenal, which includes mustard gas and sarin.

Syria has said it wants the weapons destroyed outside the country, which is in the middle of a raging civil war, and the OPCW has described that scenario as the “most viable” option.

The OPCW had no immediate comment on its next step.

Albania had been considered its strongest hope, and few diplomats expected the NATO country of 2.8 million people to reject what Prime Minister Edi Rama said had been a direct request from the U.S.

But the plan was unpopular in Albania, and young protesters had camped outside Rama’s office to oppose it, fearing it would be a health and environmental hazard.

In a televised address from the capital of Tirana, Rama said that it was “impossible for Albania to take part in this operation” — an announcement that was greeted by a loud cheer from some of the 2,000 protesters.

Rama said he rejected the request because other countries, which he did not identify, were not prepared to be a part of the operation.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jan Psaki said the decision would not hurt U.S.-Albanian relations.

“We appreciate Albania looking seriously at hosting the destruction of chemical weapons,” she said. “The international community continues to discuss the most effective and expeditious means for eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons program in the safest manner possible.”

Albania is one of only three nations worldwide that have declared a chemical weapons stockpile to the OPCW and destroyed it. Nations including the U.S. and Russia also have declared stockpiles, but have not yet completed their destruction.

Tirana has been an avid supporter of Washington since the U.S. and NATO intervened with airstrikes in 1999 to stop a crackdown by Serb forces on rebel ethnic Albanians in neighboring Kosovo.

“Without the United States, Albanians would never have been free and independent in two countries that they are today,” Rama said in an apologetic speech. “Without the United States, today there would surely be no demonstrations about chemical weapons.”

The plan was unpopular.

“We don’t have the infrastructure here to deal with the chemical weapons. We can’t deal with our own stuff, let alone Syrian weapons,” said 19-year-old architecture student Maria Pesha, among the protesters camped out overnight outside Rama’s office. “We have no duty to obey anyone on this, NATO or the U.S.”

Albania has had problems with ammunition storage in the past.

In 2008, an explosion at an ammunition dump at Gerdec near Tirana killed 26 people, wounded 300 others and destroyed or damaged 5,500 houses. Investigators said it was caused by a burning cigarette in a factory where some 1,400 tons of explosives, mostly obsolete artillery shells, were stored for disposal.

Wherever and whenever it happens, the destruction of Syria’s weapons will be overseen by experts from the Hague-based OPCW, which won the Nobel Peace Prize this year for its efforts to eradicate poison gas around the world.

The risky disarmament operation in the midst of a civil war started more than a month ago with inspections. Machinery used to mix chemicals and fill empty munitions was smashed, ending the Syrian government’s capability to make new weapons.

The disarmament mission stems from a deadly Aug. 21 attack on rebel-held suburbs of Damascus in which the United Nations determined that sarin was used. Hundreds of people were killed. The U.S. and Western allies accuse Syria’s government of responsibility, while Damascus blames the rebels.

Just getting the chemical weapons to a Syrian port during the civil war will be a high-risk operation.

Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch diplomat running the joint U.N.-OPCW mission in Syria, told an OPCW meeting in The Hague that her team is “conducting its business in an active war zone, in an extreme security situation with serious implications for the safety” of all personnel.

Syria’s conflict, now in its third year, has killed more than 120,000 people, according to activists. It started as an uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule but later turned into a civil war.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on activists on the ground, said today that a government airstrike the previous night in northern Syria killed a senior rebel figure and wounded two commanders and the spokesman of the Tawhid Brigade, the main rebel outfit in Aleppo province.