Libya destroys its chemical arsenal

The Libyan government announced on Tuesday that its chemical arsenal, which it had inherited from the Qaddafi regime, has been completely destroyed.

The Libyan foreign ministry issued a statement saying that: “In the past few days, Libya completed the destruction of its stockpile of mustard gas,” which had been loaded in tank shells and air missiles.

According to Libya’s official news agency, the statement indicated that the Libyan authorities, with technical assistance from international partners, started to destroy the mustard gas last year. “Libya is now completely free from any kind of usable chemical weapons,” the statement confirmed.

The news agency also quoted Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed abdel-Aziz commenting that: “Getting rid of the chemical weapons, with the assistance of our international partners, will surely lead to reinforcing Libya’s relations with the international community.”

Abdel-Aziz continued: “By doing this, Libya has proven to the world that it is capable of dealing with serious issues, as well as proven that it maintains a high professional expertise,” adding that Libya “worked in collaboration with international partners to carry out this mission openly.”

The foreign ministry statement noted that the chemical weapons would have posed dangers to “the security of the local communities, the environment and the neighbouring areas.”