VILNIUS, Sept 6 — German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle today urged the United Nations “to speed up” publication of a report by its inspectors on a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria.
“My request is that we get as quickly as possible the results of the inspection team, that we have an independent statement by an independent neutral institution,” he said on arriving in the Lithuanian capital for European Union foreign ministers' talks.
EU foreign ministers kicked off two days of informal talks in Vilnius deeply divided on US plans to launch military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Westerwelle said that on the basis of information gleaned by British, French and US intelligence, “it is plausible that chemical weapons have been used in Syria” and also plausible that responsibility for the use of the weapons outside Damascus on August 21 lay with President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
But some key world powers had doubts, he said.
“Therefore I think it is a good way to ask our colleagues in the United Nations to speed up with the exploration of the inspection team,” he said.
“I think that's important for many other discussions in some capital cities.” — AFP
