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UN Watchdog: Libya's Chemical Weapons Secure

September 07, 2011

The head of a UN watchdog says that Libya's remaining chemical-weapon stockpiles are believed to be secure, despite the instability in country since February.

Ahmet Uzumcu, director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said in The Hague that his inspectors were ready to return to Libya to oversee the destruction of Muammar Qaddafi's poison-gas supplies as soon as conditions would allow it.

Uzumcu said he had information that "remaining stockpiles of chemical weapons are secured." He did not elaborate.

The organization had inspectors in Libya up until February verifying the destruction process, but they left as the anti-Qaddafi rebellion gathered intensity.

Confusion surrounds the whereabouts of the deposed ruler, with interim officials saying Qaddafi could either be in his hometown of Sirte, or in neighboring Niger.

An armed convoy of Qaddafi loyalists, including his former intelligence chief, Mansour Dao, reached Niger's capital, Niamey, on September 6, but Nigerois authorities denied Qaddafi himself was in the convoy.

compiled from agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/un_watchdog_libya_chemmical_weapons_secure/24321185.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.