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Libya will start destroying its chemical weapons on Friday as the small Arab state tries to win back the confidence of the United States and Europe after agreeing to pay damages over the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing.
The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Thursday that Libya would start destroying 3,300 unfilled bombs on February 27.
OPCW inspectors will monitor the destruction which is planned to last until March 5.
The United States on Thursday lifted a travel ban on Libya and will allow some US firms to negotiate deals in the oil-rich country as it welcomed its progress on getting rid of illicit weapons.
The OPCW said the unfilled bombs had been intended for delivering chemical weapons. An inspection team has arrived in Libya and will carry out an inventory of all munitions prior to the "irreversible" destruction.
By March 5, the OPCW will receive the remainder of a list from Libya and will then organize the destruction of all remaining chemical weapons and related facilities.
"This is a very positive step and a confirmation of Libya's intention to actually get rid of prohibited weapons, OPCW Director-General of the Technical Secretariat, Rogelio Pfirter, said in a statement.
"In a wider sense, one must see today's events as a confirmation of the validity and importance of multilateralism in the field of disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," he added.
The Chemical Weapons Convention was opened in January 1993 for states that agreed to abandon these weapons. A total of 160 states have signed so far. The convention was closed to new signatories in 1997, but Libya has asked the United Nations whether it may also sign.
Significant steps
The White House said on Thursday that the country led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi had taken significant steps but more needed to be done.
"Over the course of the last two months, Libya has taken significant steps in implementing its commitment to disclose and dismantle all weapons of mass destructions programs," the White House said.
The United States said "more remains to be done" but it praised Libya's actions as "serious, credible and consistent" with Gaddafi's pledges.
On Tuesday, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday it was ready to assist Libya, which has promised to abandon plans to develop atomic weapons, expand its peaceful nuclear program.
Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Libya had agreed to the dismantling of a sensitive uranium conversion plant and, as a goodwill gesture, to convert a research reactor from weapons-grade highly enriched uranium to one using low-enriched fuel.
Lifting the travel ban will allow US oil companies to travel to Tripoli to negotiate deals for the day that US trade sanctions are lifted.
Libya is eager to bring US companies back, especially in the oil industry, its main source of foreign earnings.
Backgrounder: Major events in US-Libyan relations
The United States on Thursday lifted the long-standing travel ban on US citizens to Libya after the country reversed its comments on the Lockerbie bombing and accepted responsibility for the 1988 attack.
Following is a chronology of major events in the relations between Libya and the United States since Omar Muammar al-Qathafi came to power in the oil-rich North African Arab country 35 years ago.
Sept. 1969 -- Qathafi assumes power in a coup and overthrew the then pro-US monarch.
June 1970 -- Libya retrieves the US military base in Wheelus, near capital Tripoli.
1972 -- US-Libya diplomatic relationship is reduced to the chargé d'affaires level.
1973 -- Libya declares Gulf of Surt its territorial waters. The United States ignores the declaration without ceasing military exercises there.
1979 – Two thousand Libyan Muslims loot and burn down US Embassy, in support of Iranians holding as hostage US Embassy staff in Tehran. Libya and the United States withdraw embassies from each other.
1981 -- US naval aircraft shoot down two Libyan planes over Gulf of Surt. As a result, the two countries severe their diplomatic relations.
1982 -- The United States bans oil imports from Libya.
1986 -- The two countries have a series of military conflicts in Gulf of Surt. Qathafi declares a state of war.
1987 -- US President Ronald Reagan announces an embargo against Libya.
Dec. 21, 1988 -- A Pan Am Boeing 747 airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, kills 270 people in air and on ground, most of them US and British nationals. The US and British intelligence blame Libyans Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah for it.
Jan. 4, 1989 -- US aircraft down two Libyan fighters over the international waters of Mediterranean Sea.
Nov. 14, 1991 -- The United States announces the results of the probe into the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, and demands, along with Britain, that Libya extradite the two suspects. Fhimah is later acquitted in trial.
July 1996 -- US houses of parliament approve a bill on further sanctions against Libya and Iran. The law punishes any foreign company that invests US$40 million or more in each of the two countries.
August 2003 -- Libya agrees to pay US$2.7 billion in compensation for relatives of the victims in the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing.
Dec. 19, 2003 -- Libya announces it drops its programs on weapons of mass destruction, after a year of underground negotiations with the United States and Britain.
Dec. 25 ,2003 -- A US Congressional delegation travels by US naval aircraft to Tripoli for a visit. It is the first time in 35 years that a US military plane lands on the Tripoli Airport. Qathafi meets the delegation on Dec. 26.
Feb. 6, 2004 -- British and US high-ranking officials hold talks with Libyan officials in London, focusing on dismantling Libya's banned weapons programs, improving the US-Libyan relations and lifting US sanctions against Libya.
(Sources including China Daily and Xinhua News Agency, February 27, 2004)
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