UN inspectors set to travel to Libya
United Nations nuclear inspectors are expected to travel to Libya in the near future to begin the process of dismantling the country’s atomic weapons programmes.
A Libyan delegation met the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei in Vienna on Saturday and agreed to unannounced inspections of sites at which it had sought to develop nuclear weapons technology.
The meeting came the day after the dramatic announcement on Friday that Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi had admitted developing weapons of mass destruction but was ready to give them up.
Tripoli’s parliament must now ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention to set in train a process which could see inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons visit the north African country after 60 days.
And Libya will have formally to sign a range of international treaties forswearing illicit programmes to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles.
British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon also drew an explicit link between Libyan disarmament and the war in Iraq, confirming the suspicions of many observers who believed Gaddafi confessed to his illicit programmes at least in part because he feared sharing the fate of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.
“I don’t think you can separate out the relevance of military action in Iraq from the decision the Libyans have taken,” said Mr Hoon.
“We showed, after Saddam Hussein had failed to co-operate with the UN, that we meant business and Libya – and I hope other countries – will draw that lesson.”
The Financial Times today quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying that Libya was well on the way to producing a home-grown nuclear bomb.
“They had centrifuges turning and were making enriched uranium,” the paper reported the official as saying.
“Once you are able to enrich uranium yourself you are way down the road.
“This was a serious programme and one that was not bought off the shelf.”
