THE HAGUE: South Sudan is joining the Chemical Weapons Convention outlawing the use of toxic arms, meaning only three nations have not signed on to the treaty, a global watchdog said Friday.
“South Sudan has no reason to sit on the fence,” top Foreign Ministry official Moses Akol Ajawin told the annual meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Juba has almost concluded the process to become the body’s “newest and youngest state party,” he said, according to a statement from the OPCW.
That would leave Israel, Egypt and North Korea as the only countries yet to join the arms treaty, which came into force in 1997.
“The images of victims of chemical weapons make us all the more appreciative of the goals and objectives of OPCW,” Akol Ajawin said.
“As such, we, in South Sudan, would unreservedly like to associate ourselves with the noble goals and objectives of this great organization.”
The move was welcomed by OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu, who said: “Today, we are one step closer to universal membership.”
“I urge the other nations that have yet to join the convention — Egypt, Israel and North Korea — to unite with the rest of the world in eliminating all chemical weapons forever.”
A total of 192 nations have already signed up to the convention, and more than 96 percent of the planet’s declared chemical weapon stockpiles have been destroyed under OPCW verification.
South Sudan is the world’s newest nation, having gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
But it has been embroiled in a civil war since December 2013 that erupted when President Salva Kiir accused Riek Machar, his former deputy, of plotting a coup.
The US on Tuesday threatened to take unspecified measures against South Sudan’s government unless it moves to end the conflict and stop harassing UN peacekeepers and aid workers.
The US unsuccessfully pushed last year for an arms embargo on South Sudan and international sanctions on senior officials.
Friday’s announcement at the OPCW, based in The Hague, came on the final day of the Nobel Peace Prize winning body’s annual meeting which had been dominated by the conflict in Syria.
Syria under President Bashar Assad finally joined the OPCW in 2013, admitting under US-Russian pressure to having a toxic arms stockpile, and thus staving off threatened US airstrikes.
But Damascus came under pressure at this week’s meeting to fill the gaps in its 2013 declaration, after a joint UN-OPCW body in its latest report blamed the Syrian air force for a sarin gas attack on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhun in April that left scores dead.
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South Sudan to join Chemical Weapons Convention: Watchdog
South Sudan to join Chemical Weapons Convention: Watchdog
Taiwan president vows to strengthen island’s defenses in Lunar New Year message
TAIPEI: Taiwan will strengthen its defense efforts and safeguard the island’s security in the year ahead, President Lai Ching-te said in his Lunar New Year message released on Sunday.
Lai last year proposed $40 billion in extra defense spending to counter China, which views the island as its own territory. But the opposition, which has a majority in parliament, has refused to review the proposal and instead advanced its own, less expensive proposals, which only fund the purchase of some of the US weapons Lai wants.
In his address, recorded at one of Taiwan’s most important military radar stations in the central mountain range which he visited earlier this month, Lai said he wanted to thank the armed forces for protecting Taiwan around the clock.
“We will continue to strengthen our national defense and public security efforts, safeguarding national security and maintaining social stability,” he said in the message carried on his social media accounts.
The message showed Lai at the high-altitude Hsiaohsuehshan radar station, chatting with officers there.
The video also featured footage of Taiwan’s first domestically developed submarine, which is in the process of undersea trials.
Lai, who Beijing denounces as a “separatist” given his rejection of the country’s sovereignty claims, did not extend greetings to China, which staged its latest round of major war games around the island in late December.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
China, as well as South Korea and large parts of Southeast Asia, also mark the Lunar New Year holiday.
Lai last year proposed $40 billion in extra defense spending to counter China, which views the island as its own territory. But the opposition, which has a majority in parliament, has refused to review the proposal and instead advanced its own, less expensive proposals, which only fund the purchase of some of the US weapons Lai wants.
In his address, recorded at one of Taiwan’s most important military radar stations in the central mountain range which he visited earlier this month, Lai said he wanted to thank the armed forces for protecting Taiwan around the clock.
“We will continue to strengthen our national defense and public security efforts, safeguarding national security and maintaining social stability,” he said in the message carried on his social media accounts.
The message showed Lai at the high-altitude Hsiaohsuehshan radar station, chatting with officers there.
The video also featured footage of Taiwan’s first domestically developed submarine, which is in the process of undersea trials.
Lai, who Beijing denounces as a “separatist” given his rejection of the country’s sovereignty claims, did not extend greetings to China, which staged its latest round of major war games around the island in late December.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
China, as well as South Korea and large parts of Southeast Asia, also mark the Lunar New Year holiday.
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