Pakistan Source of Libyan Centrifuge Technology, U.S. Officials Say

Pakistan was the source of uranium centrifuge design technology for Libya, Bush administration officials and Western experts said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 5).

Experts have said that many of the centrifuge components that Libya imported were produced in Malaysia, according to the New York Times.

“It has all the hallmarks of a Pakistani system,” a senior U.S. official said. “These guys are now three for three as supplier to the biggest proliferation problems we have,” the official added, referring to previously disclosed Pakistani aid to the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran.

There is no sign, though, that the centrifuge technology transfers were approved by the Pakistani government, a senior Bush administration official said.

“This is intellectual property … and the technology of uranium enrichment is out there on the black market,” the official said. He added that saying the Pakistani government is involved is akin to saying “an American drug smuggler arrested on the border was working for the United States government” (Tyler/Sanger, New York Times, Jan. 6).

Pakistan today, however, denied the New York Times report, according to the Associated Press.

“This is total madness. The report is absolutely false, and there is no truth in it,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

Ahmed suggested that the allegations of Pakistani nuclear proliferation were part of a smear campaign, and denied any such activities.

“Pakistan’s program is under tight control and in safe hands,” Ahmed said. “People keep publishing this kind of trash. Let me again say that Pakistan is a responsible state and Pakistan has never proliferated,” he added.

A senior Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission official, though, would only deny any governmental involvement in any alleged transfers, AP reported.

“The government of Pakistan was not behind any move aimed at transferring nuclear knowledge or technology or any other thing to any other country,” the official said. “Pakistan should not be blamed for any individual’s wrongful act,” though, the official added.

“We do not know who has been helping Iran, North Korea or Libya,” the official said (Associated Press/New York Times, Jan. 6).

Meanwhile, the United States envisions a role for the International Atomic Energy Agency in the dismantlement of Libya’s WMD programs, U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday.

“We do not see any conflict between the responsibilities of the IAEA and the initiative under way by the U.K. and the United States with Libya,” Ereli said.

“Under the (Nuclear) Nonproliferation Treaty and the requisite Libyan safeguards agreements with the (IAEA), it is the agency’s job to implement international verification of Libyan nuclear activities, including the Additional Protocol that Libya has said it will sign,” he said.

Ereli said the United States was responsible under a “political agreement” with Libya to “help ensure and expedite” the removal of all weapons-related aspects of Libya’s nuclear program.

“We plan to continue working closely with the IAEA in facilitating complete verification by it,” he said (Reuters/AlertNet.org, Jan. 6).

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton met last week with British officials in London to discuss verification measures for the dismantlement of Libya’s WMD programs, according to the U.S. State Department.

A senior State Department official denied, though, that there was any conflict between the United States and the IAEA over responsibility for verifying the Libyan WMD program dismantlement effort.

“The IAEA has a role, other international organizations have a role, we have a role, the Brits have a role and it’s going to take some time to work out basically who does what and when and what the relationship to everybody else is,” the official said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 2).

Even though Libya has agreed to dismantle its WMD programs, the United States will maintain a freeze on Libyan assets for now, U.S. President George W. Bush announced yesterday.

In a written statement, Bush said he would maintain the “declaration of national emergency” related to Libya that was first issued by former U.S. President Ronald Regan in 1986. The declaration will not be lifted, according to Bush, until the dismantlement of Libya’s WMD programs is verified.

“Libya’s agreement marks the beginning of a process of rejoining the community of nations, but its declaration of December 19, 2003, must be followed by verification of concrete steps,” Bush said (White House release, Jan. 5).

According to British officials, though, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is set to meet Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Mohammed Shalgam “within weeks” — a meeting that could be a precursor to a meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi, according to the Financial Times.

The meeting will cover “a range of bilateral and international issues,” Straw told the British Parliament yesterday.

Straw also said that “a relationship of trust” had been developed between Libya and the United Kingdom. “For our part, we have recognized that now we have corresponding responsibilities to enable Libya to come fully into the mainstream of the international community,” he said (Christopher Adams, Financial Times, Jan. 5).

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