Libya 'Produced Nuclear Material'

February 20, 2004

The UN's nuclear watchdog has said Libya managed to produce a small amount of plutonium using technology acquired on the black market.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report did not specify the amount, but said it was not enough to make a nuclear bomb, diplomats said.

In 2003, Libya said it was abandoning plans to develop nuclear weapons.

The agency has been overseeing the removal and destruction of equipment used in the clandestine programme.

The report said Libya secretly imported enriched uranium which it converted into plutonium, and engaged in other activities aimed at producing a nuclear weapon.

The IAEA said Libya's failure to report on its nuclear programme from the 1980s to 2003 "show that over an extended period of time Libya was in breach of the... safeguards agreement" - part of the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.

The report was prepared by IAEA director Mohammed ElBaradei ahead of a meeting of the agency's board of governors next month.

Earlier, Malaysian police said the alleged financier of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan told them Mr Khan sent enriched uranium to Libya.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3508047.stm