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UN group says Libya had wide nuclear network

Suppliers for Libya's nuclear weapons program were stretched over three continents, the UN nuclear watchdog agency said in an internal report. Diplomats identified the former Soviet Union and South Africa as among them.

The internal report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made available on Friday also said that traces of highly enriched uranium were found in Libya but suggested the traces were imported on the equipment purchased abroad.

A diplomat suggested that finding could bolster arguments by Iran -- now the main focus of an IAEA probe for suspicious nuclear activities -- that it is not involved in trying to make weapons. Iran, too has asserted that traces of highly enriched uranium found on its centrifuges were not domestic but came with the centrifuges it bought into the country.

Cooperative libyans

The report did not name the countries involved in supplying Libya. But diplomats close to the agency said the report indicated that the former Soviet Union, South Africa, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia supported or served as bases for individuals selling nuclear components or know-how to Libya.

Other diplomats had earlier named North Korea, as well as individuals from Pakistan, UAE member Dubai and Malaysia as part of the black market chain selling nuclear secrets to rogue nations. One of the diplomats said Moscow had not been previously linked to Libyan efforts to acquire a weapons program.

The report said Libya had been cooperative since going public about its weapons programs in December and pledging to scrap them. But it said more inspections were needed of the more than two-decade-long clandestine program that included dabbling in plutonium separation before embarking on a large-scale program to enrich uranium -- one way to make nuclear weapons.

It included purchases of hundreds of centrifuges and orders for 10,000 more. In their efforts, the Libyans bought drawings of a nuclear warhead that diplomats identified as likely originating in China but sold by Pakistan.

Many nations

The illicit nuclear network headed by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan remains the focal point of investigations by the Vienna-based IAEA as it tries to trace the development of shipments to Libya, Iran, North Korea and possibly other nations trying to acquire illegal nuclear technology.

North Korea was drawn deeper into the suppliers' web last week by diplomats who said it appeared to be the source of nearly 2 tonnes of a uranium compound that Libya handed over to the US in January as part of its decision to get rid of weapons of mass destruction.

The diplomat said the "foreign counterparts ... from a nuclear weapon state" mentioned by the report as working with Libyan scientists between 1983 and 1986 referred to Soviet experts.

The Soviets were also the partners in a preliminary contract signed for a uranium conversion plant that the report noted was apparently never delivered, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The diplomat also said that mention in the report of "centrifuge-related training in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia" probably alluded to South Africa as well as Pakistan, Dubai and Malaysia. South Africa had a weapons program up to the late 1980s.

He said he did not know to which European country the report was alluding.

A diplomat suggested that the finding of traces of enriched uranium on components could bolster arguments by Iran -- now the main focus of an IAEA probe for suspicious nuclear activities -- that it is not involved in trying to make weapons.

The Khan network is believed to have supplied both Libya and Iran with centrifuges. But diplomats say Pakistan has not allowed IAEA inspectors to take needed environmental samples.
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