Damascus: The head of a UN chemical weapons investigation team arrived in Syria on Wednesday to discuss his inquiry into allegations that chemical arms have been used in Syria’s civil war.
Ake Sellstrom’s full team has not been allowed into Syria due to diplomatic wrangling over access. His mission this week aims to reach an agreement for it to start work in Syria.
Sellstrom, a Swede, is accompanied by the head of the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, who said on her arrival in Damascus that their mission was to prepare the ground for an investigation into chemical weapons use. The team’s visit is taking place at the invitation of the Syrian government and its members will meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Moualem as well as technical experts.
Damascus has so far refused to let UN investigators go anywhere except Khan Al Assal in Aleppo province, where Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s government and its Russian ally say rebels used chemical weapons in March.
Both sides deny using chemical weapons. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has insisted that his team be permitted to visit at least one other location, the city of Homs, site of an alleged chemical attack by government forces in December 2012.
All the major powers now agree that chemical arms have been used in the 28 month old conflict. But the wrangling over who carried out the attacks has become a new source of division over Syria.
Robert Serry, the United Nations envoy on the Middle East peace process, told the Security Council that UN leader Ban Ki-moon remained “gravely concerned” about reports of the use of chemical arms in the 28-month-old conflict.
The rebellion’s Western backers have been sceptical of supplying weapons to the opposition, amid fears they could fall into the hands of radical Islamists. A diplomatic source said Paris would insist on the “political perspective” of resolving Syria’s civil war.
