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The UN atomic agency is to further investigate Libya's program to develop nuclear weapons as questions linger about international smuggling and uranium contamination, according to a confidential report released to diplomats in Vienna Friday. With Libya named as one of the beneficiaries of an international black market run by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan, "full verification of Libya's declarations requires investigation of the foreign sources and intermediaries," according to a copy of the report by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei obtained by AFP. The IAEA praised Libya's cooperation, saying it had given the IAEA "prompt access to all locations that it requested." The report is to be submitted to a meeting of the 35-nation IAEA board of governors that opens in Vienna on June 14 and at which ElBaradei had said in February that he hoped to close the Libyan dossier. The IAEA board had decided in March to notify the UN Security Council that Tripoli had violated non-proliferation accords but was subsequently cooperating in remedying this. In a stunning diplomatic turnaround designed to end its international pariah status, Libya had agreed with the United States and Britain last December to dismantle its programs aimed at developing weapons of mass destruction. The IAEA, the UN organization that verifies adherence to non-proliferation safeguards, has since been overseeing the disarmament, and the evacuation to the United States of sensitive equipment and materials. IAEA inspectors have found contamination from highly enriched uranium, a possible weapons-grade material, as well as low enriched uranium on gas centrifuges equipment in Libya, the report said. The IAEA also wants to confirm the source of nearly two tonnes of uranium, which can be enriched to nuclear-bomb-grade level, and which Libya acquired in 2000 and 2001. Diplomats close to the IAEA had told AFP earlier this week that the agency has uncovered evidence that North Korea secretly provided Libya with the uranium, in the form of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas contained in a giant cask. This compound can be used as raw material for centrifuges which enrich uranium. A senior diplomat said: "We want to find out what were their real plans, to acquire or produce UF6." The diplomat said the agency also wanted to clarify why equipment was contaminated with highly enriched uranium. "We have not found any evidence that they have done actual work on weapons," the diplomat said. IAEA inspectors have not found any "specific facilities" in Libya dedicated to developing atomic weapons, the report said. But the Libyans had blueprints for nuclear weapons and the question was, "why didn't they do more work" from this, the diplomat said. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
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