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Libya Had “Substantial” Chemical Weapons Program, OPCW Head Says
The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention, said Friday that Libya had a “significant and substantial” chemical weapons program (see GSN, Feb. 6). The agency has not yet verified what chemical weapons Libya possessed, said Director General Rogelio Pfirter. He said, though, that he understood Libya had possessed mustard agent and related munitions, as well as precursor chemicals. Agency experts will help Libya develop a complete inventory of its chemical weapons program to prepare for a Libyan declaration by March 5, Pfirter said. He added that he believed Libya would be able to meet a treaty deadline of 2007 for destroying its chemical weapons (Stephen Fidler, Financial Times, Feb. 7). Meanwhile, a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in London characterized talks held there on Friday between U.S. and Libyan officials as “very positive and thorough.” The U.S.-Libyan talks were held after a round of three-way talks that also included British officials, the embassy said. During the U.S.-Libyan meeting, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns “noted the excellent progress” being made in dismantling Libya’s WMD programs and reiterated the U.S. commitment to aid Tripoli in the effort, the statement said. It also said that, to further aid the dismantlement process, U.S. and Libyan officials discussed “the possibility of assigning a small number of personnel to each other’s capitals.” The U.S. and Libyan delegations also discussed means to reward Libya for its WMD dismantlement, according to the U.S. Embassy statement. Such measures included the possible “near-term” removal of the ban on U.S. travel to Libya, the embassy said (U.S. State Department release, Feb. 6).
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