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U.N. Experts Tour 4 Sites In Libya
Associated Press
December 29, 2003
TRIPOLI, Libya - U.N. nuclear experts toured four previously secret sites related to Libya's nuclear weapons program, on the second day of a trip to see if Moamar Gadhafi is serious about his pledge to stop pursuing weapons of mass destruction.
No details were given about the sites or what inspection teams with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency found when they visited Sunday. The experts, led by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, spent hours touring the sites, ElBaradei's spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said.
As a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Libya is required to declare all sensitive nuclear installations to the United Nations. On arriving in Libya Saturday, ElBaradei said the North African country appeared to be far from producing nuclear arms.
The visit followed Gadhafi's surprise pledge more than a week ago to scrap Libya's weapons programs. It is the latest in a series of moves to end his country's international isolation and shed its image as a rogue nation.
The pledge followed eight months of covert negotiations and inspections by British and U.S. intelligence officials.
Some of the inspectors also met with Libyan officials on "technical matters concerning the history of (Libya's) entire program" related to weapons of mass destruction, the U.N. spokesman said. ElBaradei did not take part in this meeting, he said, providing no further details.
ElBaradei is expected to meet with Libya's prime minister and foreign minister on Monday before returning to Vienna. Gwozdecky said some inspectors will remain in Libya until Thursday to inspect other sites.
Gwozdecky said ElBaradei would meet with Matouq Mohammed Matouq, a Libyan deputy prime minister and head of the country's nuclear program, to develop a plan for future inspections.
Libya, long on the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terrorism, has portrayed the move as a strategic step, insisting it never produced any weapons of mass destruction.
Gadhafi said he hoped Libya's action would pressure Israel to disarm. Israel, the only Mideast nation believed to possess nuclear arms, refuses to confirm or deny a weapons program.
ElBaradei praised Libya's new openness as a step in the right direction, "particularly in the Middle East."
"This protocol is not meant to be a threat to a country's national security or dignity but an objective tool to give assurance that the activities are for peaceful means," ElBaradei said.
The IAEA, the U.N. anti-nuclear proliferation watchdog, was sidelined during the covert U.S.-British talks that led to Libya's revelation that it had a 15-year-old nuclear weapons program.
Diplomats who declined to be named told The Associated Press the agency now had access to U.S. and British intelligence, but ElBaradei on Saturday acknowledged that his team was nonetheless going in knowing relatively little.
ElBaradei said Libya received its weapons equipment "through the black market and middle people."
The United Nations lifted sanctions against Libya after it accepted responsibility in September for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, and agreed to pay $2.7 billion to the victims' families.
The United States imposed sanctions against Libya in 1986, claiming it supported terrorist groups. It continues its embargoes but after Gadhafi's nuclear promise hinted at improved economic relations.
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/...122903,00.html
Associated Press
December 29, 2003
TRIPOLI, Libya - U.N. nuclear experts toured four previously secret sites related to Libya's nuclear weapons program, on the second day of a trip to see if Moamar Gadhafi is serious about his pledge to stop pursuing weapons of mass destruction.
No details were given about the sites or what inspection teams with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency found when they visited Sunday. The experts, led by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, spent hours touring the sites, ElBaradei's spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said.
As a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Libya is required to declare all sensitive nuclear installations to the United Nations. On arriving in Libya Saturday, ElBaradei said the North African country appeared to be far from producing nuclear arms.
The visit followed Gadhafi's surprise pledge more than a week ago to scrap Libya's weapons programs. It is the latest in a series of moves to end his country's international isolation and shed its image as a rogue nation.
The pledge followed eight months of covert negotiations and inspections by British and U.S. intelligence officials.
Some of the inspectors also met with Libyan officials on "technical matters concerning the history of (Libya's) entire program" related to weapons of mass destruction, the U.N. spokesman said. ElBaradei did not take part in this meeting, he said, providing no further details.
ElBaradei is expected to meet with Libya's prime minister and foreign minister on Monday before returning to Vienna. Gwozdecky said some inspectors will remain in Libya until Thursday to inspect other sites.
Gwozdecky said ElBaradei would meet with Matouq Mohammed Matouq, a Libyan deputy prime minister and head of the country's nuclear program, to develop a plan for future inspections.
Libya, long on the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terrorism, has portrayed the move as a strategic step, insisting it never produced any weapons of mass destruction.
Gadhafi said he hoped Libya's action would pressure Israel to disarm. Israel, the only Mideast nation believed to possess nuclear arms, refuses to confirm or deny a weapons program.
ElBaradei praised Libya's new openness as a step in the right direction, "particularly in the Middle East."
"This protocol is not meant to be a threat to a country's national security or dignity but an objective tool to give assurance that the activities are for peaceful means," ElBaradei said.
The IAEA, the U.N. anti-nuclear proliferation watchdog, was sidelined during the covert U.S.-British talks that led to Libya's revelation that it had a 15-year-old nuclear weapons program.
Diplomats who declined to be named told The Associated Press the agency now had access to U.S. and British intelligence, but ElBaradei on Saturday acknowledged that his team was nonetheless going in knowing relatively little.
ElBaradei said Libya received its weapons equipment "through the black market and middle people."
The United Nations lifted sanctions against Libya after it accepted responsibility in September for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, and agreed to pay $2.7 billion to the victims' families.
The United States imposed sanctions against Libya in 1986, claiming it supported terrorist groups. It continues its embargoes but after Gadhafi's nuclear promise hinted at improved economic relations.
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/...122903,00.html