Global Security Newswire

Libya said Friday that its chemical weapons program had included both the testing of mustard gas for use as a weapon and the production of thousands of munitions designed to employ the agent, according to the New York Times.

The disclosure was included in a formal declaration Libya submitted Friday to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention. In its declaration, Libya said that it had produced more than 20 tons of mustard gas and that its chemical weapons program had begun in the 1980s and ended in 1990, according to officials (Judith Miller, New York Times, March 6).

Libya’s supplies of mustard gas have been moved from scattered storage sits to one secure facility, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said. He also said that “all Libya’s known chemical munitions have been destroyed” (Mike Allen, Washington Post, March 7). 

The OPCW is planning to build a facility within Libya to dispose of the mustard gas, organization officials said (Miller, New York Times).