U.N. to Join Hunt for Rogue Weapons in Libya

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council added the hunt for rogue surface-to-air missiles and other weapons in Libya to the duties of the U.N. mission in the country on Dec. 2.

The 15-member council unanimously passed a resolution extending the mandate of the mission, which has mainly been giving political support to Libya's transitional government.

Growing concern over the weapons caches - particularly thousands of shoulder-fired rocket launchers - left by late dictator Moammar Gadhafi led to the extension of the mission's duties.

Libya's neighbors have expressed fears that the weapons and ammunition could get into the hands of radical groups. The U.N. envoy to Libya, Ian Martin, said this week that a "reliable picture" of all the weapons sites and numbers is still lacking.

The resolution said the mission will now assist "Libyan national efforts to address the threats of proliferation of all arms and related material of all types, in particular man-portable surface to air missiles."

The Libya mission was provisionally extended until March 16 to give the U.N. leadership time to set out its needs for a long-term operation.

Libya Pledges To Destroy Chemical Weapons

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Libya's National Transitional Council has pledged to continue with the previous regime's program of destroying its chemical weapons stockpiles, an international monitoring group said Nov. 4.
"The new authorities inherited the obligations of the old regime as a state party to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons," the organization's spokesman Michael Luhan said at its headquarters in The Hague.

"The new authorities accepted this heritage," he told AFP.
Slain leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime joined the OPCW in 2004, but it had yet to destroy 11.5 tons of mustard gas - representing 45 percent 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 that 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 on Nov. 1 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 on 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.