Ahmet Uzumcu (1st, L), Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), attends a hearing on transfering Syria's chemical weapons before Italian Parliament's Commissions of Foreign Affairs and Defence in Rome, Italy, on Jan. 16, 2014. The transfer of some 500 tons of Syria's chemical agents will take place in Italian port of Gioia Tauro, said the announcement that was made during the hearing on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

 
The transfer of some 500 tons of Syria's chemical agents will take place in the port of Gioia Tauro, confirmed Italian authorities Thursday.

The announcement was made in a hearing before the parliamentary commissions of foreign affairs and defence.

"We have selected Gioia Tauro port as particularly appropriate," Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Maurizio Lupi said.

"The Syrian chemical arsenals aboard the Danish cargo vessel will be directly transfer to the US Cape Ray through 60 containers and special equipment," he declared.

He assured that none of the containers would be brought on docks. "It will be a ship-to-ship transfer, the operation does not require storage."

The entire operation should take no longer than 48 hours, according to Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino.

The operation is part of responses to the decision made by the UN Security Council and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which ruled that Syria's chemical weapons will be transported outside its territory to ensure their destruction in the safest manner and as soon as possible, with a deadline of June 30, 2014.

The transfer is expected to take place between end of January and beginning of February, local media reported.

The Gioia Tauro port is located on the Mediterranean coast of southern Italy and is specialized in transshipment activities.

Transloading the chemicals onto the US ship Cape Ray in a port facility is said to greatly improve the safety and security of the operation.

Ahmet Uzumcu, Director-General of the OPCW, publicly thanked Italy "for its generous contribution" on Thursday.

Yet the government's announcement sparked mixed reactions: anger and fears at local level, interest and mild appreciation from national analysts.

"By choosing our port, the government is putting my life at risk. Should any incident occur, citizens will come after me with a pitchfork," Gioia Tauro Mayor Renato Bellofiore had said to local media even before the official statement.

After the announcement, his fellow mayor of the near village of San Ferdinando, which controls the most part of the port, threatened to close the docks.

Outside the Parliament, opposition activists from "Italy of Values" party (IdV) staged their protest since Thursday morning.

"This episode proves that Italy has little diplomatic prestige and weight among international partners at the moment," IdV leader Ignazio Messina told Xinhua.

"Other countries have contributed with ships and experts, but we have chosen to offer our ports, our own territory... the worst way to provide help," he said.

Around him, activists were distributing leaflets to the people and the journalists gathered under a small open tent.

Lupi tried to minimise the risks connected with the operation. "Handling around 560 tons in 60 containers will not entail risks beyond usual limits," the minister said during the parliamentary hearing.

He also stated that Gioia Tauro, located in the southern region of Calabria and considered one of the largest seaport in Italy and Europe, would be perfectly adequate to the task.

Raw material for poison gas and nerve agents, however, are among the chemicals on board of the Danish ship that will be transferred to the special equipped US ship Cape Ray for destruction in international waters.

The main concern expressed by activists and local authorities was thus entirely related to security, and protests are likely to continue.

"We will be picketing Gioia Tauro port during the transfer," Messina anticipated to Xinhua.

However, analysts saw the government's decision to contribute to the international effort in Syrian chemical disarmament as quite positive.

"In this way Italy will play an active role in an complex matter that involves our own interests. By offering one of its ports, Italy would probably 'gain' a primary seat at the negotiation table of Geneva II peace talks," Alberto Negri, editorialist and special correspondent with Il Sole24 Ore business daily told Xinhua.

"I would not say that Italy is showing a lack of diplomatic weight, rather the opposite," he added.

"Among western foreign ministers, Emma Bonino was the first to declare that a military intervention in Syria was not the right option and that the real solution to the crisis would come through diplomatic talks. This is just what is happening,"he said.

Regarding the hostility and fears of local communities, the analyst warned that Italy's public opinion is often a little 'short-sighted' and poorly informed when it comes to international issues, but it would do better to show more knowledge in this case.

"Many Italians have expressed their solidarity and sympathy for the Syrian people... Well, this would be the right time to prove this solidarity concretely, to show a little more maturity" Negri concluded.