Libya calls for WMD-free Africa
PLA Daily 2004-03-01
SIRTE, Libya, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Saturday that all African countries should abandon weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in order to realize stability and peace in the continent.
"Any national state that adopts this policy (of weapons of mass destruction) cannot protect itself, instead it would expose itself to danger," said Gaddafi, who was hosting an African Union (AU) summit in his hometown.
"The nuclear arms race is a crazy and destructive policy for the economy and for life. We would like to have a better economy and a better life," he said.
Libya astonished the world in last December by releasing a statement, which said the country had decided "of its own free will" to "completely eliminate the internationally banned weapons of mass destruction."
"We have decided in Africa that Africa must be free of weapons of mass destruction," Gaddafi said at the summit.
Libya was the second country in the continent, after South Africa, to abandon such weapons.
It was the first time that the Libyan leader had spoken of his December decision on such a public international occasion.
Libya has taken a series of actions over the past two months. It allowed inspections of its nuclear sites by experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency and handed drawings of nuclear weapons to UN inspectors.
Libya's moves are widely believed to be helpful in patching relations with Western powers.
Libya is a major oil producer in north Africa, with revenues from oil and oil products accounting for 95 percent of its total export value. But poor relations with the western world and the lack of advanced technology and equipment has kept its oil output crawling at a quite low level of one million barrels a day.
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