UN Green Light To Destroy Syria’s Chemical Weapons

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – U.N. diplomats say the Security Council has agreed to proposals by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons by the target of mid-2014. France’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud and Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said after closed consultations late Thursday that the 15 council members decided to authorize the plan proposed by Ban in a letter – not a resolution.

In an 11-page letter to the council on Monday, Ban recommended that a joint mission be established by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, with a total staff of approximately 100, to carry out what he described as a dangerous and unprecedented operation. Azerbaijan’s U.N. Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev, the current council president, said he would draft a letter to the secretary-general soon.