U.S. Department of State
96/05/30 Daily Press Briefing
Office of the Spokesman
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
I N D E X
Thursday, May 30, 1996
Briefer: Nicholas Burns
LIBYA
Egyptian Inspection of Suspected Chemical Weapons Facility 3-5
at Tarhunah/US Position/Bringing Attention to Program/
Possible Other Sites/Egypt-Libya Relations/Egyptian
Rpts to US on Facility/Notice to US of Inspection/Work
With US Inspectors
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB #85
THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1996, 1:15 P. M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
Q Do you have anything to say about the Egyptian
inspectors' claims that there's nothing menacing going on in
that mountain southeast of Tripoli?
MR. BURNS: Tarhunah.
Q Yes.
MR. BURNS: I think there is actually quite a lot to
say about this today, and I'm glad you asked. We're very
pleased that President Mubarak shares the very strong
concerns of the United States about Libya's chemical weapons
program. We're very pleased that Egypt has taken steps to
address this problem, and we commend the efforts of
President Mubarak and the Egyptian Government to look into
it.
Obviously, we can't comment substantively on the
reported inspection by the Egyptian experts, because we have
not been briefed about the details -- the contents of their
report, but we look forward to being briefed. We certainly
understand the comment by President Mubarak that there were
no chemical weapons at Tarhunah.
We never said there were chemical weapons at Tarhunah.
We've never claimed that. We've never claimed it's an
operational facility. What we have said -- what Secretary
Perry has said and what others have said -- is that there's
very good reason to believe that this facility is under
construction for the purpose of harboring a chemical weapons
program, and that is the purpose of the very mysterious
construction underway at Tarhunah.
We remain skeptical that any inspection of the facility
at Tarhunah -- still under construction -- that any
inspection could establish that it will not be used for
chemical weapons purposes. Unfortunately, we believe that
the Libyan Government is intent upon building a chemical
weapons capability.
We think that it wants to locate a chemical weapons
program at Tarhunah. I think the Egyptian President and
Government have done a very good thing by sending inspectors
there. We look forward to their report. But we do believe
that the root of the problem is the intent of the Libyan
Government to use this facility for nefarious purposes.
Q Are you saying the Egyptians were hoodwinked?
MR. BURNS: Not at all. I'm saying the Egyptians did a
very good thing by shining a very large international
spotlight on this program, and perhaps Mr. Qadhafi --
Colonel Qadhafi -- will think twice now about trying to make
this particular site operational. If that is the effect of
the Egyptian action, then the Egyptian action will have been
quite productive.
But I think Colonel Qadhafi should understand that
we're going to continue to look very closely, using all
means at our disposal, at this facility and at other spots
in other locations in Libya where we believe he may intend
to build a chemical weapons operational facility.
Q You're saying there's other places in Libya where
you believe he's constructing --
MR. BURNS: I'm just saying we have a broad gaze as we
look upon Libya, and we're not going to limit our gaze to
one spot. He should know that it's not going to be possible
for him to carry out under the cover of darkness or in some
secret location or in the side of a mountain a chemical
weapons development facility or an operational facility. He
won't get away with that.
Q Do Egypt's close relations with Libya concern the
United States at all?
MR. BURNS: Egypt is a neighbor of Libya. Egypt has a
relationship with Libya. We understand that relationship.
We have an ongoing conversation and have had for more than a
decade with the Government of Egypt about that relationship.
But I do want to limit my comments in that respect to, I
think the very positive actions taken by President Mubarak.
Q You haven't heard anything from the Egyptians so
far, in specifics, in terms of diplomatic communications?
MR. BURNS: I don't believe we have, and that limits me
from commenting on exactly what the Egyptian inspectors saw.
We are very interested in that, and we'd like to have a
full report -- I'm sure we'll get it -- from the Egyptian
Government.
Q Did the Egyptians let you know that they were
going to do this inspection before it took place?
MR. BURNS: I don't know the answer to that question.
I don't know if our Embassy was apprised -- Ambassador
Walker was apprised beforehand of it. I can check.
Q The other question or the corollary would be, was
there any effort by the United States, by U.S. experts, to
sort of work with the Egyptians on what they should look for?
MR. BURNS: I don't know the answer to that question,
but I can tell you that, obviously, since we have these very
serious concerns about Libyan intentions, we have discussed
them in the past, recent past with the Egyptian Government
and others -- some of our European friends as well.
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