IAEA to visit Libya next week
The head of the United Nations atomic watchdog, Mohamed El Baradei, will visit Libya next week to assess the progress made on scrapping Tripoli’s nuclear arms programme.
On December 19th, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi said the North African state wanted to de-burden itself of weapons of mass destruction.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), alongside British and US scientists, will supervise the dismantling of the country’s nuclear weapons programme.
Mr El Baradei is expected to release two reports this week on the nuclear status of Libya and Iran.
IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said Mr El Baradei would discuss Libya’s signing of the additional protocol of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which grants IAEA inspectors the right to inspect nuclear facilities.
Mr El Baradei will travel to Tripoli on February 23rd and 24th.
The visit comes ahead of the 35-nation IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna on March 8th, which will consider El Baradei’s review of Libya’s WMD programme.
