Libya Reportedly Building Another Chemical Weapons Plant

U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that Libya is building an underground chemical weapons plant that will be able to produce and store poison gas, it was reported today.

The New York Times, quoting intelligence officials, said the plant is disguised as part of a water project.

The underground plant is in a hillside near Tarhunah, about 40 miles southeast of Tripoli, officials told the newspaper.

Clinton Administration officials described the plant as a source of significant concern, particularly because Libya last month failed to join more than 100 other nations in signing a U.N. convention banning chemical weapons, the paper said. Libya had previously indicated that it would sign the convention.

The State Department refused to provide details about the discovery of the plant but condemned what it described as Libya’s ongoing chemical weapons efforts, the newspaper said.

Libya’s first poison-gas site, in Rabta, about 25 miles southwest of Tripoli, was damaged by a fire in March, 1990, though the George Bush Administration said the fire may have been a hoax. Officials say that plant remains the biggest chemical weapons plant in the Third World.

The first official indication that Libya was building a second chemical weapons plant came this week from a German government official who cited intelligence reports that West European firms had provided materials to build the factory.

He said two German companies supplied equipment for the project but halted their deliveries.

In 1988, German companies were found to have played crucial roles in building the Rabta plant.

U.S. government officials said that construction of the Tarhunah plant began late last year and that the plant was expected to begin operation late this year. It was not clear whether a halt in building-supply shipments would prevent Libya from completing the construction.