Rwanda committed to a world free of chemical weapons, says Karabaranga

Rwanda is committed and willing to cooperate with the world body working to check the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons, an envoy has said. Amb. Jean-Pierre Karabaranga, Rwanda’s envoy to the Netherlands, said this Wednesday as he presented letters of credence to Amb. Ahmet Uzumcu, the director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). A statement from the Embassy of Rwanda says the envoy assured Amb. Uzumcu of the willingness of the country to cooperate with OPCW Secretariat in eradication of the chemical weapons worldwide. “The Rwanda National Police and other relevant institutions have received proper training to deal with chemical weapons,” he said. In July 2012, the Chamber of Deputies passed the Bill on the implementation of the Convention on the prohibition of development of chemical weapons.The Hague-based OPCW is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force in 1997. The OPCW has 189 member states, collaborating to have a world free of chemical weapons. Rwanda became the 162nd State party to the OPCW on April 30, 2004.