Munitions destruction to be completed April

THE NEXT phase of the controlled destruction of obsolete munitions has begun and should be completed by April, the Defence Ministry said yesterday.

Authorities here are being advised by experts from the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) on how best to decommission the munitions.

Experts from the UK, US, Italy, Spain, Slovenia and the Conflict Prevention Centre who arrived here last week have inspected the National Guard’s obsolete munitions as well as the sites used for their destruction.

Defence Minister Demetris Eliades said the following phase of controlled destruction should be completed by April.

Earlier this month, the military said more than half of the obsolete munitions that were being stored in a base near the residential area of Palodia had been destroyed, and that the remaining items had been moved and stored in a specially designed safe area, within a complex of warehouses near Kalavasos.

Renewed concerns over safety to civilians were raised in the wake of the Mari disaster in July, when 13 people were killed after the detonation of a massive munitions dump there.

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