OPCW Working With Libya on Clean-Up After Chemicals' Leak at Storage Site

Sputnik News

18:51 16.09.2016

The OPCW Technical Secretariat has been working with Libya and other countries to develop a plan for environmental clean-up at the site where the leakage of components for chemical weapons occurred, according to OPWC's spokeswoman.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been cooperating with war-torn Libya and other nations to remove consequences of the leakage of components for chemical weapons from Libya's storage tanks, the organization's spokeswoman told Sputnik on Friday.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged the OPCW to clarify the circumstances of disappearance of more than 200 metric tons of precursor materials for chemical weapons at Libya's Ruwagha storage site. According to the OPCW, chemical components did not go missing, but rather leaked or evaporated due to corrosion in storage tanks.

"The OPCW Technical Secretariat has been working with Libya and other countries to develop a plan for environmental clean-up at the site where the leakage occurred," the organization said.

On September 8, the OPCW announced that Libya's remaining 500 metric tons of chemical weapon precursors were delivered to Germany in order to destroy these chemicals under OPCW verification.

The materials are the remains of a stockpile obtained by deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi. The last chemical weapons were removed from the country in 2014.

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