LAST WEEK, the US and the Soviet Union agreed on a framework for inspecting
factories suspected of producing chemical weapons. They also agreed, in
their talks in Geneva, on the order in which to destroy their existing stockpiles
of weapons. These agreements will feed into talks aimed at creating a worldwide
ban on the production of chemical weapons. Only when a multilateral convention
is in place, however, will the US and USSR implement last week’s accords.
The agreement on inspection sets an important precedent. The accord
refers to challenge inspection, which, in its broadest sense, would allow
any party to a ban to challenge any other party to open its production facilities
and stockpiles for inspection. Many experts believe that challenge inspection
is the only way to verify a ban on chemical weapons.
The two sides are also close to agreement on exchanging data about production
facilities and stockpiles of chemical weapons. When James Baker, the Secretary
of State, and Eduard Shevardnadze, the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs,
meet in Wyoming later this month they could provide the political impetus
for the two sides to agree on this question too.
Both the US and the Soviet Union are signatories to the Geneva Protocol
of 1925, which forbids the first use of chemical weapons. A further 108
countries have also signed this treaty, but there have been violations.
Indeed, concern about chemical weapons has grown since the Iran/Iraq war
and because of the widespread conviction that Libya produces chemical weapons
at Rabta, near Tripoli. The US State Department estimates that the Libyan
factory produces between 10 and 40 tonnes a day…
