Libyan army recovers uranium barrels declared missing by IAEA week ago
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An official from the Libyan army called for assistance from the international community to safely store the materials in Libya.
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IAEA flag. (AP)
Libyan National Army (LNA) Moral Guidance Department chief Khaled Mahjoub said on Thursday that the Libyan army recovered 2.5 tonnes of uranium that were previously declared lost by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced earlier in the week.
The UN's nuclear watchdog declared Wednesday that some 10 barrels containing approximately 2.5 tonnes of natural uranium in the form of uranium ore concentrate have gone missing from a site in Libya.
#BREAKING
— Libya Review (@LibyaReview) March 16, 2023
The Libyan Army has claimed to have found the 10 missing drums containing approximately 2.5 tons of natural Uranium.https://t.co/PzK4AXb3CT#Libya #LibyaReview pic.twitter.com/irTrWVZhRA
According to Mahjoub, the Libyan army created a special unit to look for the disappeared barrels on the LNA-controlled territory right after the IAEA's announcement was made.
"These barrels were found in the area located just five kilometers [three miles] away from the storage in the direction of Chad," Mahjoub said in a statement.
He added that the individuals who had stolen the barrels were not aware of what was inside them and the risk they would pose to health, noting that members of Chadian armed groups may have been involved in the theft as they were looking for ammunition.
The army official further called for assistance from the international community to safely store the materials in Libya.
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Libya had abandoned in 2003 a program to develop nuclear weapons under assassinated former President Muammar Gaddafi.
Since the 2011 West-led war on Libya, the country has been split between the two parties after its leader was killed after NATO-led aggression on the country that engulfed it in civil war.
After the NATO-backed insurgency in Libya that was accompanied by direct hostile intervention by the alliance, Libya has been a battlefield for global powers, which led to different regions of the country falling under the control of various factions and militants due to the lack of any stable and central governance of the war-torn country.
Reuters first reported on the IAEA warning about the missing Libyan uranium, saying the IAEA told members reaching the site that’s not under government control required "complex logistics."
The IAEA declined to offer more details on the missing uranium.
One such declared site is Sabha, some 660 kilometers (410 miles) southeast of Libya's capital, Tripoli, in the country's Sahara Desert, with estimates putting the Libyan stockpile at some 1,000 metric tons of yellowcake uranium.
Former President Muammar Gaddafi declared Libya's nuclear weapons program to the world in 2003, as he rescinded the country's bid to create nuclear weapons.
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