The United States announces that it has destroyed its last chemical weapons, in accordance with the 1997 World Convention

This should close a long chapter on chemical weapons in the world. The United States has announced that it has destroyed its last reserves of these lethal weapons, completing a process that began in 1997 with the signing of the Global Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

“For more than three decades, the United States has worked tirelessly to eliminate its stockpiles of chemical weapons. Today, I am proud to announce that the United States has safely destroyed the last munition in this stockpile – bringing us one step closer to a world free of the horrors of chemical weapons.”said Friday, July 7, US President Joe Biden in a statement.

All declared chemical weapons have been “irreversibly destroyed”announced the Organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons (OPCW), after the announcement of the White House. “Ending the destruction of all declared chemical weapons stockpiles is an important step”underlined, its general manager, Fernando Arias, in a press release.

The other signatories of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention had already eliminated their reserves, announced in May, Mr. Arias. Only the United States should finish destroying its reserves, he said, adding that more than “70,000 tons of the most dangerous poisons in the world” were destroyed under the supervision of his organization. Several countries, including North Korea and Egypt, however, remain outside the 1997 Convention.

“Scourge”

The last M55 rocket equipped with sarin, a nerve agent, was destroyed Friday at the Blue Grass depot of the American army, in Kentucky (central-eastern United States), announced the Pentagon, in a separate press release. Under the terms of the 1997 Convention, the United States had until September 30 to destroy all of its munitions and chemical agents.

For decades, the United States has maintained stockpiles of artillery and rocket ammunition containing mustard gas, or nerve or nerve agents such as sarin and VX. The use of such weapons was widely decried after their horrific effects were exposed to the world in the trenches of the First World War. But many countries retained and further developed their chemical weapons programs in the years that followed.

Ahead of Joe Biden’s announcement, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell announced on Friday that the Blue Grass repository had recently finished disposing of some 500 tons of lethal chemical agents after a four-year mission.

“Although the use of these lethal weapons will forever be an indelible stain on history, our nation has finally delivered on its promise to rid itself of this scourge”the Republican tenor said in a statement, adding that “Chemical weapons are responsible for some of the most horrific episodes in terms of human casualties”.

“More challenges await us”

In his statement, President Joe Biden also encouraged the rest of the world to sign the 1997 Convention, so that “the global ban on chemical weapons is reaching its full potential”.

“Russia and Syria must once again comply with the Convention and recognize their undeclared programs, which have been used to commit atrocities and brazen attacks”also launched the American president.

And, for the Director General of the OPCW, “more challenges await us”. With Angola, North Korea, Egypt, and South Sudan, “four countries have yet to join the Convention”, said Mr. Arias on Friday. Besides, “used and abandoned chemical weapons have yet to be recovered and destroyed”he added.