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Switzerland to Aid Albanian Chemical Weapons Disposal By Mike Nartker MOSCOW — Switzerland plans to assist Albania in destroying a small stockpile of communist-era chemical weapons, a Swiss Foreign Ministry official told Global Security Newswire on the sidelines of a nonproliferation conference held here last week (see GSN, April 30, 2003). Last year, Albania declared a small stockpile of chemical weapons to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, according to Andreas Friedrich, deputy director of the Swiss Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Center for International Security Policy. The weapons containing “very old” mustard agent were found in some of the thousands of scattered bunkers built during Albania’s communist past, Friedrich said. Friedrich also said that prior to Libya’s heralded declaration of its own chemical weapons arsenal last month, Albania was the last country to declare a chemical weapons stockpile to the organization that oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention. Friedrich said that Switzerland would cover the costs of OPCW inspections in Albania, which could amount to as much as $60,000. Switzerland three weeks ago dispatched a team of experts to Albania to assess the condition of the weapons, he said, adding that his country might aid in the actual destruction process, which is likely to be conducted within Albania. Switzerland previously assisted Albania in disposing of other types of nonweaponized toxic chemicals, and therefore has established good working relations with the country, Friedrich said. Emphasizing the need to dispose of the weapons as quickly as possible, Friedrich noted the unstable nature of Albania and said that it was in the international community’s interest to prevent the weapons there from falling into the hands of terrorist groups.
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