U.S. ‘Poisoned’ Air for Chemical Arms Talks, Shevardnadze Says

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze said Friday that the United States had “poisoned the atmosphere” for an international conference on chemical warfare by shooting down two Libyan warplanes.

“This incident poisons the atmosphere on the eve of the conference,” Shevardnadze said as he arrived at Paris’ Orly Airport to attend the 130-nation meeting starting today.

His comments to reporters seems to set the stage for a confrontation with Secretary of State George P. Shultz. The two men are scheduled to meet privately Sunday. There have been reports that Shultz hopes at that meeting to convince his Soviet counterpart with new evidence, apparently including intelligence already supplied to Western governments, that Libya is building a chemical plant to produce chemical weapons and to persuade him to pressure Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi into altering his course.

But Shevardnadze said that Moscow remains skeptical about the U.S. charges.

“I think no government has the right to make such an accusation without proof,” he said.

A senior State Department official said that leaders of France, Canada and Egypt told Shultz on Friday that they have no doubts about U.S. evidence identifying as a poison gas plant the industrial complex under construction at Rabta, about 40 miles southwest of the capital, Tripoli. Kadafi insists that the plant will produce only peaceful pharmaceuticals.

On Wednesday, British officials said that Britain has independent evidence backing the U.S. accusations that the plant is a “formidable” one capable of producing chemical weapons.

Despite the reluctance of some other nations to endorse the U.S. position in public, the U.S. official said, Shultz and other U.S. representatives have been told in private that the evidence is persuasive.

For instance, the official said, French Premier Michel Rocard told Shultz that France does not doubt that the facility is a chemical weapons plant. France has carefully avoided making such an assessment in public.

“We all understand what the issue is and governments will make their own decisions,” the official said. “We are not going around seeking public statements.”

The Paris conference was called to reaffirm a 1925 protocol banning the use of poison gas weapons. The prohibition was eroded by Iraq’s use of chemical weapons in its war with Iran and allegedly against Kurdish rebels. The conference runs through Thursday, although Shultz plans to return to Washington on Sunday after meeting with Shevardnadze, leaving Gen. William F. Burns, director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, to head the U.S. delegation.

Shultz met Friday with Rocard, French President Francois Mitterrand, French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas, Canadian External Affairs Minister Joe Clark, Egyptian Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel Meguid and Swedish Foreign Minister Sten Sture Andersson.

A U.S. official who attended the meetings said that no doubts about the U.S. charges were expressed.

Clark told reporters after the meeting, “We are not skeptical; we believe that the capacity is there to produce chemical weapons.”

But he added, “Canada strongly hopes that this issue can be resolved by measures short of force.”

The U.S. official said that most Western governments have indicated privately that they believe the U.S. assertions. But he said Washington has been less successful in its effort to convince Western governments that private businesses located in those nations have assisted the Libyan plant.

“There are two issues involved,” the official said. “One is the question of the plant. The other is the question of whether or not there is sufficient information to tie companies to the plant. It’s the latter that we have been working on.”