WASHINGTON -- Libya is again requesting additional time to destroy its stockpile of chemical warfare materials, an international nonproliferation organization said recently (see GSN, Oct. 16).
(Oct. 21) -
Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi, shown last month. Libya has requested a new extension on a deadline for destroying its chemical-warfare materials (Rick Gershon/Getty Images).
The northern African country has submitted a request for an extension of "intermediate and final deadlines" for the destruction of its Category 1 chemical weapons, states an Oct. 7 status report by the director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Category 1 weapons contain materials that have little if any nonmilitary use and pose a "high risk" to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Libya's stockpile consists of roughly 25 metric tons of sulfur mustard stored in bulk containers, along with two chemical-weapon precursor materials, according to Jonathan Tucker, a senior fellow with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force in 1997 and originally demanded that all member states destroy any stockpiles of banned materials by April 29, 2007. However, countries could ask for an extension of up to five years, pushing the end date to 2012.
Libya joined the convention in 2004 and later became one of several nations to request an extension beyond the original 10-year destruction period. The others were India, Russia, the United States, a never officially identified nation that is widely known to be South Korea, and a joint effort to eliminate World War II-era chemical weapons abandoned by Japan in China.
Member states to the organization in 2006 granted Libya its first disposal deadline extension, to Dec. 31, 2010. Now, under the new proposed destruction time line, the nation would eliminate 1 percent of its deadly agents by Nov. 1, 2010; 20 percent the following month; 45 percent the next month; and finally 100 percent by May 15, 2011.
The Libyan request for more time "suggests things are not going well with its CW destruction program," Tucker told Global Security Newswire.
The application was not a surprise, Tucker said. Rogelio Pfirter, OPCW director general, said in a July 14 statement to the organization's 41-state Executive Council that he expected the request to arrive this month.
The proposed new final deadline for completing destruction of the Libyan chemical weapons stockpile is still within the overall time limit of April 29, 2012, set by the convention, according to Tucker.
The delay might have been caused in part by Libya's decision in June 2007 to cancel a a contract with the United States under which it would have received a high-temperature incinerator to destroy its chemical warfare materials, he said
There were several possible reasons for the Libyan pullout, including disagreement over the terms of the contract and the amount of U.S. financial assistance, according to an article by Tucker that is scheduled to be published in the November issue of The Nonproliferation Review.
"If the Libyans had gone forward with the incinerator project, their CW destruction program would probably be on schedule today," Tucker said.
Libya in August submitted a "national paper" to Pfirter's organization detailing difficulties it has encountered as it prepares to destroy its stockpile, the status report says. The document says those problems include logistical and fiscal problems due to the global economic downturn but does not specify what those problems entailed.
There also has been "strong opposition" from civil organizations concerned about the potential harmful consequences of the destruction process, according to the status report. It does not specify what those consequences entail. Libya's planned Rabta destruction site is roughly 75 miles south of the capital city of Tripoli.
A spokesman at the Libyan mission in Washington was not available to comment on the matter this week.
Tucker noted that the United States and Russia have faced similar political opposition, from local communities near chemical weapons destruction facilities.
The status report notes Libya has completed the reloading of mustard and two chemical weapons precursors at the Ruwagha Chemicals Reloading System facility this spring in preparation for transport to the planned Rabta destruction facility. Construction of the disposal plant has not yet begun, according to Tucker.
The country also has destroyed all of its Category 3 chemical weapons, as well as 551 metric tons of its Category 2 weapons, according to the document.
Tucker said Libya's request would be examined by the OPCW Executive Council, which would make a recommendation to the full membership of the convention. The member states would then have to agree by consensus on the intermediate and final deadlines listed in the proposal.
The Executive Council last week agreed to forward the request to the Conference of State Parties for a decision, while at the same time asking Libya to submit a new national paper with more details on the reason for delay, OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan said today by e-mail.
The conference will convene at the end of next month but "what it may decide is simply unknowable right now," according to Luhan.
He said he was unable to share Libya's national paper articulating the reasons for its request.
Tucker predicted the request would be granted. It is "unlikely" that Libya would ask for a third extension, Tucker stated by e-mail yesterday.
"But it all depends on whether Libya can overcome the current technical and political problems facing its chemical weapons destruction program," he said.
Other States
The status report also details the efforts made by the other countries that asked for extensions beyond the original 2007 destruction date laid out in the convention.
As of September, Russia has destroyed slightly more than 40 percent -- or 16,024 metric tons -- of its declared Category 1 chemical stockpile, the document states. The country has also destroyed all of its Category 2 and Category 3 weapons, it adds. A senior Russian official said this month his country has destroyed nearly 42 percent of its chemical warfare materials (see GSN, Oct. 15).
However the lack of transparency surrounding Russia's effort has led some observers to believe that the country will miss its 2012 deadline.
Meanwhile, the United States has eliminated close to 66 percent -- or 18,200 metric tons -- of Category 1 weapons reported under the pact, according to the status report. It has also destroyed less than 1 metric ton of its Category 2 chemical weapons following the "unplanned" recovery and destruction of three munitions filled with chloropicrin. The country has destroyed all of its declared Category 3 weapons.
The Defense Department's recently assessed that chemical demilitarization operations would not likely wrap up before 2021, missing the 2012 time line set by the treaty as well as a 2017 deadline mandated by Congress (see GSN, Aug. 26).
The report also states that to date there has been no destruction of chemical weapons abandoned by Japan on Chinese territory during World War II and on-site construction of destruction facilities "has not yet begun."
To date, nearly 52 percent of all declared chemical weapons have been destroyed, according to the status report. Disarmament activities are complete in Albania, India and South Korea.