Libya: Chemical arms have been destroyed
TRIPOLI, Libya – Libya’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday the country’s caches of chemical weapons, including bombs and artillery shells filled with mustard gas, have been completely destroyed.
“Libya is totally empty of any presence of chemical weapons … which could pose a threat to the safety of people, the environment, or neighboring regions,” Mohammed Abdel-Aziz said in remarks carried by Libya’s state news agency.
The eradication of the weapons, which date from the era of slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi, marks an important success for Libya, even as Syria, its neighbor in the eastern Mediterranean, is struggling to destroy its own chemical weapons hoard amid a civil war.
Under Gadhafi, Libya declared in 2004 it had 25 metric tons of sulfur mustard and 1,400 metric tons of precursor chemicals used to make chemical weapons. It also declared more than 3,500 unfilled aerial bombs designed for use with chemical warfare agents such as sulfur mustard, and three chemical weapons production facilities.
Sri Lanka president warns against charges
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka’s president says it will be a “grave crime” if anyone brings war crime allegations against his government over its conduct in the final months of a quarter-century civil war, adding it would be a victory to forces opposed to peace in the island nation.
Mahinda Rajapaksa did not mention any country in an Independence Day speech Tuesday, but the United States has said that it is frustrated at Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in post-war reconciliation and accountability and says it will bring a third resolution to the United Nations human rights body calling on Sri Lanka to do more. Details of the resolution have not been revealed.
Rajapaksa vowed not be frightened by the proposed resolution.
Associated Press
