Libya to destroy chemical arsenal

Sites like the Tajura facility are now monitored by the IAEA

Libya is set to begin destroying more than 3,000 unfilled chemical bombs.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says its inspectors will oversee their destruction.

It says after that it hopes to receive a complete declaration of Libya's remaining chemical weapons stocks, so that those can also be destroyed.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have already begun overseeing the dismantling of Libya's nuclear weapons programme.

The Hague-based organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons(OPWC) says the destruction process is expected to last until 5 March.

Actual intention

The head of the OPWC's Technical Secretariat said Libya's step confirmed its real intention of getting rid of prohibited weapons.

Rogelio Pflirter said that "in a wider sense, one must see today's events as a confirmation of the validity and importance of multilateralism in the field of disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

In January 1993, the Chemical Weapons Convention was opened for states that agreed to abandon such weapons. So far 160 states have signed.

Although the convention closed to new signatories in 1977, Libya has asked the United Nations whether it can also sign.