THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dozens of previously undeclared chemical bombs and rockets left over from when then-President Bashar Assad ruled Syria have been found in the country in the past few weeks, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a report Wednesday.
The OPCW, the global chemical weapons watchdog based in The Hague, said in its May report that its inspectors were able to inspect “high-priority undeclared locations” since the start of month. “Dozens of undeclared chemical munitions such as aerial bombs and rockets … have been found at several of these undeclared locations,” the report said.
When Syria joined the OPCW in 2013, it claimed chemical weapons were present at 26 locations in the country, but the watchdog has said it has reason to believe the country has an additional 100 sites.
Following the overthrow of Assad in December 2024, the government under interim-President Ahmad al-Sharaa has pledged to destroy any remaining chemical weapons from the Assad regime.
While speaking to the OPCW in The Hague last year, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani asked for help from the international community in ridding his country of the illegal munitions.
Syria’s new rulers have committed to “destroy any remains of the chemical weapons program developed under the Assad regime, to put an end to this painful legacy, to bring justice to victims, and to ensure that the compliance with international law is a solid one,” he said.
Syria joined the OPCW in 2013 to ward off the threat of airstrikes in response to a chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus. Assad’s government denied using chemical weapons, but the OPCW previously has said that it found evidence of their repeated use by Syria in the grinding civil war.
The organization also has found that the Islamic State group used chemical weapons during the war.
FILE - An aerial view of a mass grave where are buried those who were killed by the sarin struck during a 2013 chemical weapons attack that was blamed on then President Bashar Assad's forces, in Zamalka neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, file)
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan authorities on Wednesday ordered the closure of the border with Congo “with immediate effect” as cases surge there of a rare type of Ebola and as others emerge at home.
A local Ebola task force led by Vice President Jesca Alupo made the decision after a rise in Ugandan health workers exposed to the virus by Congolese patients who crossed the border before the outbreak was declared on May 15.
“No country should close its borders or place any restrictions on travel and trade. Such measures are usually implemented out of fear and have no basis in science,” the World Health Organization said in its declaration of this outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern, while acknowledging that neighboring countries are at high risk.
The WHO added: “They push the movement of people and goods to informal border crossings that are not monitored, thus increasing the chances of the spread of disease.” It said infected people or those who have been in contact with them should not undertake international travel unless it’s a medical evacuation.
The border between Uganda and Congo is several hundred miles long and crossed by numerous footpaths beyond formal border posts.
Health authorities in Congo are struggling to contain the outbreak that the WHO has said is outpacing them, after the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola was confirmed weeks late as tests were carried out for a more common type.
The number of suspected Ebola cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. Congo's health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed, and they are looking into over 3,000 possible contacts.
Challenges include the threat of armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number of displaced people and poor infrastructure.
Uganda has reported seven cases of Ebola, including the first case of a 59-year-old man who died in Kampala, the capital, on May 14.
While the Ebola case load in Uganda is not spiking, the number of locals exposed to infection via health workers has been rising.
“They have families, and so the number has been increasing,” Dr. Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, said of health workers.
Travel across the Congo border will be authorized only in emergency cases, including for the Ebola response, cargo or security reasons, she said.
She said she was dismayed to see some Ugandans forming crowds to celebrate Arsenal as British Premier League champion. The team has a large following in Uganda.
“I don't understand,” Atwine said, urging Ugandans to be vigilant, avoid shaking hands and use sanitizer.
A Muslim woman walks towards the prayer grounds at Sayo Muhamed School to perform Eid al-Adha prayers amid an Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
