seems no-one cares about world peace anymore!


Libya Says Will Give Up Banned Weapons
Fri December 19, 2003 06:14 PM ET





By Salah Sarrar and Peter Graff
TRIPOLI/LONDON (Reuters) - Libya, a pariah state for decades, took a major leap toward rejoining the international community on Friday by announcing it will abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs.

Libya's Foreign Ministry confirmed it had decided "of its free will" to "completely eliminate the internationally banned weapons of mass destruction."

"This decision by Colonel (Muammar) Gaddafi is an historic one and a courageous one and I applaud it. It will make the region and the world more secure," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who first announced the deal in a television address.

Blair said the moves entitled Libya to "rejoin the international community" and President Bush said Libya has begun rejoining the "community of nations," though it was not immediately clear whether Washington would lift all remaining sanctions against Tripoli.

"Today in Tripoli, the leader of Libya, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, publicly confirmed his commitment to disclose and dismantle all weapons of mass destruction programs in his country," Bush said in a briefing with reporters.

"He's agreed immediately and unconditionally to allow inspectors from international organizations to enter Libya," the president said.

Blair said Tripoli had agreed to "dismantle all its weapons of mass destruction completely" and limit the reach of its missiles to 300 km (186 miles).

It would join the convention banning chemical weapons and reach a deal for nuclear inspections with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"Today's announcement shows that we can fight this menace through more than purely military means; that we can defeat it peacefully, if countries are prepared, in good faith, to work with the international community to dismantle such weapons," Blair said.