ruled itself out as a candidate to host
the destruction of Syria's poison gas
stockpile and said it would prefer the
arsenal to be eradicated close to Syria
itself.
Defense Minister Pieter De Crem said
that "the movement of those weapons
is a tough enough task in itself" and
crossed out Belgium as a possible
destination.
"To do that here at home — I don't see
that at first sight, and also not in the
long term," he told VRT network.
After Albania refused to take on the
task Friday, Belgium — as well as
France — had been considered a
possible candidate, if only because it
has a long history of destroying the gas
arsenal from World War I.
The Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons has adopted a plan
to destroy Damascus's estimated
1,300-ton arsenal, which includes
mustard gas and sarin, outside Syria,
but has yet to find a country willing to
host the risky operation.
The OPCW has not released any names
of countries where the weapons could
be destroyed, but says it remains
confident it can wipe out the entire
arsenal by mid-2014. Norway has said it
will send a civilian cargo ship and navy
frigate to pick up the stockpile.
Wherever it happens, the destruction of
Syria's weapons will be overseen by
experts from the OPCW, which won the
Nobel Peace Prize this year for its efforts
to eradicate poison gas around the
world.
Poison gas was first used in Belgium
during World War I and many
thousands of canisters still lie buried in
the farm fields straddling western
Belgium and northern France. Belgium
still has operational forces specialized
in neutralizing the gas.
Mike Corder contributed from The
Hague, Netherlands
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