Libya's National Transitional Council has pledged to continue with the previous regime's programme of destroying its chemical weapons stockpiles, an international monitoring group said Friday.
Libya
's
National Transitional Council has pledged to continue with the previous
regime's programme of destroying its chemical weapons stockpiles, an
international monitoring group said Friday.
"The new authorities inherited the obligations of the old regime as a
state party to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,"
the organisation's spokesman Michael Luhan said at its headquarters in
The
Hague
.
"The new authorities accepted this heritage," he told AFP.
Slain leader Moamer Gadhafi's regime joined the OPCW in 2004, but had yet to
destroy 11.5 metric tons of mustard gas, representing 45% of its initial stock
when the rebellion that toppled him was launched in mid-February.
"The destruction facility malfunctioned in February, so when destruction
resumes will depend on when the facility is repaired," Luhan said, but
stressed that the NTC should destroy all chemical weapons by
April 29, 2012
.
Libya
destroyed its total stockpile of 3,500 munitions including bombs, shells and
missiles which could be used to deliver chemical weapons such as mustard gas,
shortly after joining the convention in 2004, the OPCW said.
Mustard gas causes serious chemical burns in the eyes, on the skin, and in the
lungs.
The new Libyan authorities also told the OPCW Tuesday that further stocks of
what were believed to be chemical weapons had been found, but the find needed
to be verified.
The NTC declared "total liberation" in
Libya
Oct.
23, three days after Gadhafi's death following his capture.
Libyan academic Abdel Rahim al-Kib has been charged to form a interim
government by Nov. 23, tasked with disarming the country and getting its
economy back on its feet.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01