US fails to cull own weapons
04/09/2003 08:23  - (SA)  

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Washington - The United States acknowledged late on Wednesday it will miss - by more than three years - an important international deadline for destroying its arsenal of chemical weapons.

The US Defence Department said in a statement it will not to able to liquidate 45 percent of its chemical stockpile by April 29 2004, as required by the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.

"The United States is therefore requesting the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) grant an extension of the 45 percent destruction deadline," the statement said.

The military is now expected to be ready to reach the required milestone by December 2007, the Pentagon said.

No detailed explanation for the postponement was given. But the department pointed out that its chemical demilitariation programme "has had several delays due to unresolved political and operational issues that forced operational shutdowns or postponed start-up dates."

- AFP

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