"Following ratification by Honduras, all of the countries (of) central, north and south America are now covered by the convention's arms control and disarmament regime, together with the vast majority of states in the Caribbean basin," the OPCW said in a statement.

Honduras is the 173rd nation to join the convention, which aims to eliminate chemical weapons by 2007.

The convention prohibits all development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, transfer and use of chemical weapons.

It also requires each member state to destroy chemical weapons and chemical weapons production facilities that it may have.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.