Swedish scientist heads UN Syria chemical arms probe

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom to head a UN investigation into allegations that chemical weapons were used in Syria, Ban's spokesman said.

"He is an accomplished scientist with a solid background in disarmament and international security," spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

Ban announced the investigation after receiving a written request from the Syrian government last week. At least 25 people were killed on March 19 when armed men fired a rocket stuffed with chemical materials at a town near Aleppo, Syrian state-media said, claiming opposition fighters were responsible.

The United Nations said it will investigate Syrian allegations that rebels used chemical arms in the attack, but Western countries sought an investigation into all claims about the use of such arms, including rebel allegations that government forces used them.

If an investigation finds that the rebels used chemical weapons, it could make countries even more reluctant to support the opposition. If it adds credibility to the rebels' claims that the government used them, it will represent another blow to President Bashar al-Assad's government.

It was not immediately clear who else will be on Sellstrom's team. Russia said on Monday that Russian and Chinese experts should be part of the investigation, but Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Tuesday that the country will "most likely not" be represented.

Sellstrom was a chief inspector for UNSCOM, the UN inspection team that investigated and dismantled Iraq's biological and chemical weapons programs in the 1990s.

Sellstrom also worked with UNMOVIC, the UN group that returned to Iraq in 2002 and found no evidence that Baghdad had revived its weapons of mass-destruction programs before the 2003 US-led invasion, as the US and UK alleged at the time.

Nesirky said Sellstrom will conduct a technical, not criminal investigation, to discover whether chemical weapons were used and not at who may have used them.

US and European officials say there is no evidence of a chemical weapons attack, but the allegations made by the rebels are worth being tak seriously. If one were to be confirmed, it would be the first use of such weapons in the 2-year-old Syrian conflict, which the UN says has cost 70,000 lives.

Reuters-AP-Xinhua

(China Daily 03/28/2013 page11)