Envoy pleased with Kuwait position on chemical attack

(MENAFN- Arab Times) Kuwait backs UK measures to maintain national security

British Ambassador to Kuwait Michael Davenport addressing the press conference.

KUWAIT CITY, March 15: The British Ambassador to Kuwait Michael Davenport has expressed delight over the support extended by Kuwait towards the United Kingdom when members of the United Nations Security Council were expressing the stances of their countries regarding the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury on March 4.

The ambassador said this at a press conference he organized at his residence to discuss the chemical attack on Skripal and his daughter who have been in a critical condition and under intensive care treatment in a UK hospital.

The incident also endangered the lives of two other persons who are also receiving treatment at Salisbury District Hospital.

The ambassador affirmed about a fruitful discussion with Kuwait's Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the issue. He reiterated the British Prime Minister Theresa May's statement at the House of Commons. She said the Russian involvement 'was the only plausible explanation,' and declared that the two inferences were that it could either be a direct attack by Russia on the UK, or the Russian government has lost control of that gas storage.

Ambassador Davenport explained that the UK has given Russia enough time to clarify the situation, but responses continue to trivialize the issue by claiming complete innocence, because 'the justifications were not convincing.' The Russian officials did not explain the loss of control over the gas storage or clarify if other persons used it.

The envoy indicated that this was the first time such a chemical is being used in Europe after World War II when all concerned countries had unanimously banned the use of that chemical even during the war. He reaffirmed that the use of the chemical represents contravention of international laws and charters against the use of chemical weapons, adding 'It was on this basis that the British government submitted a petition to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Hague, Netherlands.' Earler, the State of Kuwait has stated that it supports the right of the United Kingdom or other countries that undergo a chemical attack to carry out necessary investigations and take required measures to protect its national security and bring to justice those involved in this criminal act.

This came in a speech by the Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi during an emergency UN Security Council session called by the United Kingdom to discuss the letter from the British charge d'affaires to the Security Council President about the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy and his daughter by a nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury. Al-Otaibi stated that 'the council is meeting today to discuss the issue of the use of chemical weapons, and we express our concern here about the assassination attempt in Salisbury.

This crime endangers the security and safety of civilians and could have ramifications on relations between member states.' He reuttered Kuwait's principled and firm stance of condemning any use, production, possession, stockpiling or maintaining of chemical weapons or the transfer of chemical weapons, directly or indirectly. Al-Otaibi added that this stance is based on article one of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which Kuwait calls upon all ratifying states to abide by its provisions and to eliminate its stockpiles of toxic chemicals.

'The UK has called for this meeting because it considers what has happened on its territory to be hostile act that violates international norms and agreements relevant to chemical weapons,' he said.

Al-Otaibi called on all states with a responsibility towards international peace and security and all States that have consistently expressed their commitment to the Charter of the United Nations to take clear and sincere steps towards the goal of creating a world free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction.

He recalled resolution no. 2325 adopted by the Security Council in 2016, which reaffirmed that the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as well as their means of delivery poses a threat to international peace and security.

By Shawki Mahmoud Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies

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