Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration issues press release on situation in Syria

Podgorica, Montenegro (3 September 2013) – Montenegro strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons believed to have been committed by the Syrian regime based on credible leads, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro stated in a press release published Saturday.

We find the use of chemical weapons an appalling crime against civilians and we fully support the positions of UN Security Council members, the EU member-states, and other important stakeholders in the international community that it is necessary to complete the investigation in this case as soon as possible, having in mind especially the large number of victims and the need to put an end to violence against civilians, the Ministry adds.

In this light, Montenegro was among 37 co-sponsoring countries that supported United Kingdom’s initiative to the UN Secretary General requesting that a UN team investigate the case and acquire reliable information on the character and perpetrators of this crime, the press release states.

Montenegro hopes that the continued talks in the Security Council and other relevant international centres will bring about an appropriate and hopefully concerted response by the international community to the non-civilised act of the use of chemical weapons, based on the norms of international law, so that those responsible would take necessary consequences for this act, the Ministry press release concludes.