IAEA to Oversee Libya's Disarmament

Paraphrased by
Steve Waldrop
January 19, 2004

The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, will oversee Libya's disarmament but the United States will help in the effort, the head of the UN agency Mohamed ElBaradei said.

ElBaradei said that the United States and Britain will provide logistical support to the inspection missions carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"I think we have agreement on what needs to be done. Clearly the agency role is very clear that we need to do the verification," ElBaradei said following talks with US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton and British envoy William Ehrman.

The meeting came following fierce discussions over who should take the leading role in verifying that Libya is making good on its promise to give up nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs.

IAEA, US and British weapons inspectors have all been to Libya since Tripoli announced the shift in mid-December following months of secret negotiations between Tripoli, London and Washington.

President Bush's administration of has accused the IAEA of rushing into Libya, suggesting that Washington wants its own inspectors to play a larger role in confirming Libya's disarmament.

But ElBaradei said that "obviously we do the verification, to make sure that we have seen everything in Libya" and that all weapons programs have been declared. Then the IAEA will need help with moving weapons equipment out of Libya or destroying it.

ElBaradei went on to say that the IAEA would need British and American help with logistics. "I think we have reached a good agreement on how to proceed," he said, adding that consultations would continue.

Bolton did not confirm the specifics of what Elbaradei said, only saying that it was "a very productive meeting. I think we are on the same page with the IAEA."

IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said that the IAEA was the international community's sole institution mandated to inspect nuclear programs. "The agency's verification responsibilities under the NPT are clear," he said.

The IAEA gets its mandate to verify non-proliferation worldwide from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

New IAEA teams will be visiting Libya within the next two weeks.