European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 9, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Classroom close up see Page 9 the Sims and stripes authorized unofficial publication for the . Armed forces vol. 47,no. 264 monday january 9, 1989 254 daily and sunday d 8693 a soviets renounce chemical arms Paris a the soviet Union has stopped producing chemical weapons and will Start destroying its massive stockpiles this year soviet foreign min ister Eduard a. Shevardnadze announced sunday. Addressing an International Confer ence in Paris on chemical weapons Shevardnadze said the soviet Union is Fin Ishing construction of a facility for eliminating chemical arms. He said twill go into operation this year. He said his country would not wait for an Accord to be reached at Geneva talks on chemical weapons before beginning to destroy its stockpile. American delegates to the conference said the soviets were simply playing  a senior . Official said the United states had been routinely destroying aging chemical weapons since the Early 1980s. Shevardnadze said representatives of other countries will be invited to visit the soviet facility but he did not Specif when. Shevardnadze said the soviet position had changed quite radically in the re cent past going from manufacturing chemical weapons to abandoning the altogether. When you get into the facts of the matter it is that we have been doing the same kinds of things said Lynn Han sen director of the Bureau of multilateral affairs at the . Arms control and Dis armament Agency. The soviet position now corresponds to our own position Hansen said. We simply Don t get the press because for unit s More routine when they do it All of a sudden it s  senior . Delegates said in Paris the new aspect of the soviet position was that chemical weapons would be destroyed before a convention is signed in Geneva Banning use production and see soviets on Back Page a tent is erected outside the suspect Plant at rata Libya. The photograph was taken while foreign journalists were Given a glimpse of the site saturday evening. A Libya ousts journalists Day after trip to Plant Tripoli Libya a libyan officials on sunday expelled foreign journalists who had poured into the country last week after . Fighter jets shot Down two libyan warplanes Over the Mediterranean. At least 100 journalists most of the american and european were put on an afternoon flight to Rome. By evening however at least 30 others were still at their Tripoli hotel but were told the would have to leave. The remaining journalists including an a reporter had succeeded in eluding government officials assigned to keep tabs on them. The expulsion orders came a few hours after the journalists were taken saturday evening to the site of a Plant the United states alleges will produce chemical weapons. The journalists were not allowed inside the facility at rata on the desert s Edge 60 Miles Southwest of Tripoli. Because it was already Nightfall they could see very Little from the outside. The libyan government insists the Plant is being constructed to manufacture Medicine. But clearly visible was a ring of sur face to air missiles around the Plant As Well As a radar station a Little Over a mile away. Libyan officials said the defences were put into place after president Rea Gan said last month he could not Rule out a military strike against the facility. When the journalists were returned to their seafront hotel late saturday eve Ning libyan officials told them they had a few minutes to pack their bags for a late night flight to  reason Given was that the rooms see Libya on Back Page Germany tells . It s no whipping boy Hamburg West Germany a foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher has told . Officials that West Germany will not be made a whipping boy in a dispute Over a suspected chemical weapons Plant in Libya a newspaper reported sunday. The mass circulation Bild am Sonn tag tabloid said Genscher renewed West German criticism of . Handling of the dispute during a Brief meeting with . Secretary of state George Shultz saturday in Paris. See related Story on Page 2. Genscher with the full support of Chancellor Helmut Kohl told Shultz the Federal government will not silently endure attempts to be made a whipping boy " Bild said. Bild quoted unnamed sources assaying that Shultz replied that the . Government was not responsible for Media reports in the United states critical of West Germany. Tensions Between the normally close allies have grown in recent Days since us Media reports alleged that West German chemical company was involved in helping build the Libya Plant which the . Suspects is de signed to produce chemical weapons. 4the West German government has since absolved the firm of any involve ment but has added that any such allegations would be taken seriously by the government and investigated thoroughly. The newspaper said West German see Germany on Back Page