Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 19. April 2006 / Time Line April 19, 2006
Version 3.018. April 2006, 20. April 2006
04/19/2006
Baltic Sea resolution in PACE to see light of day
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/15165/
VILNIUS - MP Gediminas Jakavonis overcame bureaucratic obstacles at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe last week, pushing through a resolution he initiated over chemical weapons resting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Jakavonis, a member of the assembly’s committee on the environment, agriculture and regional affairs, said that the assembly’s bureau supported the Lithuanian initiative to draft the resolution at a meeting in Strasbourg on April 11.
Last fall, Russia and Germany signed an agreement on constructing a $5 billion gas pipeline via the Baltic Sea. The Baltic states, however, fear this could pose a threat, since chemical weapons have been resting at the bottom of the sea for half a century.
Lithuanian environmentalists believe there is a real threat of hitting the chemical weapons that are scattered throughout the sea. International scientists have not yet agreed whether the weapons, which have been submersed under water for 60 years, are still dangerous, though many think the threat of an ecological disaster is great.
Shortly after World War II, the U.S.S.R. and its allies sank several thousand tons of bombs and cannon shells with chemical charges in the Baltic Sea. In 1993, the Helsinki Commission set up a special task force to investigate the chemical weapon dumps in the Baltic Sea. In its conclusions, the group stressed the possible ecological threat that could arise from intensive fishing, and prepared recommendations and warnings for fishermen.
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