VIENNA/LONDON, 22 December 2003 — Libya has agreed to allow snap UN nuclear arms inspections, just a day after declaring it was giving up plans to build an atomic bomb, a Western diplomat said yesterday.
Libya, widely praised for announcing on Friday that it was ditching efforts to build the bomb and other banned weapons, told the head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Saturday it was ready to sign up to inspections, the diplomat said.
The surprise moves, which could lead to the end of U.S. sanctions and the return of U.S. oil companies, mark an about-face for Muammar Qaddafi, Libyan leader for 34 years.
“We are turning our swords into plowshares and this step should be appreciated and followed by all other countries,” Libyan Prime Minister Shokri Ghanem said of Friday’s statement, adding that economic progress was more important than arms.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday welcomed Libya’s decision to abandon weapons of mass destruction and said Israel should follow suit.
“This is a very excellent step...It will have repercussions in the whole world, including Israel, because Israel must remove weapons of mass destruction in any form,” he said.
Mubarak, speaking to reporters on a tour of factories northwest of Cairo, also suggested Egypt did not realize how much progress neighboring Libya had made with its programs.
“My information about Libya is that there wasn’t anything, or that there might be plans we did not know about,” he said.
US intelligence officials said Qaddafi seemed the driving force behind Libya’s decision and his motivation may have ranged from concerns about the Iraq war and a desire to end isolation to concerns about domestic threats to his own rule.
Tripoli acted swiftly to show it was serious. A top official met the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Saturday to discuss its proposals to accept stricter IAEA nuclear safeguards.
The separate Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Libya would have to adopt the Chemical Weapons Convention before inspections for such arms could be made.
Libya said yesterday its decision to abandon secret efforts to build an atomic bomb and chemical weapons was driven by a need to develop its economy and boost the living standards of its people.
While information about Tripoli’s weapons capabilities was vague, Britain said it had been close to making an atomic bomb. South Africa is the only other country to undertake to scrap its weapons of mass destruction voluntarily.
Meanwhile, in a related development, it was reported by a British newspaper that Libya provided intelligence on hundreds of Al-Qaeda and other militants in a bid to end its pariah nation status.
Qaddafi’s moves came as part of a deal to have crippling United States sanctions against his country lifted, said the Observer.
The paper reported that Libya’s vow to give up efforts to develop nuclear, chemical and biological arms came after two years of talks centered on London in the aftermath of the Al-Qaeda network’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph reported that Libya’s promise to surrender its weapons of mass destruction, announced late Friday by Britain and the US, was forced by the seizure of physical evidence of Qaddafi’s weapons program.
US officials told the paper that Washington’s hand was strengthened in negotiations with Qaddafi after a successful operation, previously undisclosed, to intercept transport suspected of carrying banned weapons.
The Telegraph said a senior US State Department official confirmed last week that the Proliferation Security Initiative, an international, US-led scheme to halt the spread of banned weapons by seizing them in transit, had “netted several seizures”, although he refused to give further details.
