U.S. officials said a British-U.S. team has arrived in Tripoli and
established an office for operations. They said the team will oversee and
help dismantle Libya's medium- and intermediate-range missiles as well as
WMD facilities.
The British-U.S. team contains about a dozen members, officials said.
They said the team is expected to remain in Libya throughout most of 2004.
The U.S. team is headed by ambassador Don Mahley, Middle East Newsline reported.
On Jan. 25, a
six-member delegation from the U.S. Congress plans to oversee the
dismantling of WMD programs in Libya and meet its ruler, Col. Moammar
Khaddafy.
"We are guaranteed a meeting face-to-face with Col. Khaddafy, a visit to
the university and probably a visit to a weapons of mass destruction site
and meetings with ordinary Libyans," Rep. Curt Weldon, a senior member of
the House Armed Services Committee, said.
The British-U.S. team has been joined by a delegation from the
International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA intends to oversee the
dismantling of Libya's nuclear program that contains elements for the use
of nuclear weapons.
"Agency inspectors are already at work in Libya verifying the
dismantling of its nuclear programs," IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said.
"More experts are to follow over the coming weeks."
The IAEA team arrived in Tripoli on Tuesday, a day after Britain and the
United States agreed on the role of the agency in the effort to dismantle
Libya's WMD programs. Officials said the British-U.S. team would dismantle
the facilities and remove or destroy the equipment. The IAEA would monitor
the effort.
"Col. Khaddafy correctly judged that his country would be better off,
and far more secure, without weapons of mass murder," President George Bush
said in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. "Nine months of
intense negotiations involving the United States and Great Britain succeeded
with Libya, while 12 years of diplomacy with Iraq did not. And one reason
is clear: For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible, and no one
can now doubt the word of America."
"I think things will start to happen rather quickly," Secretary of State
Colin Powell said on Tuesday. "I can't give you a timeline now until the
work is done on the ground. But we do have people on the ground now working
with the Libyans."
Iran, North Korea and Pakistan have been cited as major suppliers of
Libya's missile and WMD programs. But U.S. officials said Western European
companies also provided dual-use components for Libya's nuclear program.
Two Dutch Cabinet ministers have told parliament that a company in the
Netherlands might have transferred centrifuge technology to such countries
as Iran, Libya, North Korea and Pakistan. The company was identified as the
Dutch unit of Urenco, whose designs for the development and
manufacture of centrifuge cylinders were found in Libyan warehouses by the
British-U.S. team. Pakistan was said to have obtained similar designs from
Urenco more than 20 years ago.
