Baradei says Libyans were only in initial stages of nuke technology

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TRIPOLI (AP) — The UN nuclear chief said Monday that his visits to four once-secret nuclear sites proved Libya had been in the early stages of a weapons programme before it dismantled its efforts, and said the equipment and technology had come from a number of countries. "What we have seen is a programme in the very initial stages of development," Mohammad Al Baradei told reporters.

"We haven't seen any industrial-scale facility to produce highly enriched uranium; we haven't seen any enriched uranium" — the material needed for developing nuclear weapons.

Baradei and his team of experts visited four previously unmentioned nuclear sites in Tripoli on Sunday, and he said all the equipment had been dismantled and boxed up. The inspections follow leader Muammar Qadhafi's decision to abandon his country's attempts to produce weapons of mass destruction.

Libya is one of just 14 countries that has neither signed nor ratified the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention prohibiting the production, storage and use of chemical weapons.

Baradei said the origins of Libya's technology would easily be identified "as they were of a familiar design." He suggested a "sophisticated network" was behind the technology: "A number of different people in a number of different places, a network which you can call a cartel but not necessarily with the knowledge of a particular country or countries. It has been across many countries in the world." Baradei had said earlier that Libya received its weapons equipment "through the black market and middle people." On Monday, he declined to reveal the number or names of Libyan scientists or whether they received training in Europe or the United States but said they were "well competent scientists." "That is good for Libya ... to work on the peaceful development in nuclear programme for civilian purposes," he said.

"If a country was to show transparency and active cooperation, that can open the doors of lots of avenues for a complete change of face. ... It is a lesson for North Korea to observe," Baradei said.

He said he hoped the Libyan transparency would help bring the nuclear issue to closure "in the next few months." The UN official, who was to leave Libya later Monday, met with Shokri Ghanem, Libyan prime minister, and Matouq Mohammad Matouq, a Libyan deputy prime minister and head of the country's nuclear programme, to develop a plan for future inspections.

The visit by the UN team is part of an international effort to ensure the north African state has no weapons of mass destruction. Six inspectors will be in Libya until Thursday.

Libya, long on the US list of countries that sponsor terrorism, has portrayed its move as a strategic step, insisting it never produced any weapons of mass destruction.

It has promised full transparency and cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and said it would sign a protocol allowing wide-ranging inspections on short notice.

Qadhafi said he hoped Libya's action would pressure Israel to disarm. Israel, the only Mideast nation believed to possess nuclear arms, refuses to confirm or deny a weapons programme.

According to Baradei's spokesman, Mark Gwozdecky, the sites visited Sunday were new facilities that "have never been mentioned in the media before." As a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Libya is required to declare all sensitive nuclear installations to the United Nations.

Some of the inspectors on Sunday met with Libyan officials on "technical matters concerning the history of (Libya's) entire programme" related to weapons of mass destruction, the UN spokesman said. Baradei did not take part in this meeting, he said, providing no further details.

Qadhafi's pledge to scrap its weapons programmes is the latest in a series of moves to end his country's international isolation and shed its image as a rogue nation. It followed eight months of covert negotiations and inspections by British and US intelligence officials.

The United Nations lifted sanctions against Libya after it accepted responsibility in September for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, and agreed to pay US$2.7 billion to the victims' families.

The United States imposed sanctions against Libya in 1986, claiming it supported terrorist groups. It continues its embargoes but after Qadhafi's nuclear promise hinted at improved economic relations.