SIPRI Policy Brief: South Ossetia and Abkhazia
Libya
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Country Profile 6: Libya
By Yana Feldman and Charles Mahaffey
FirstWatch International (FWI)
Overview
There is widespread agreement that the major constraint on Muammar Al Qadhafi’s plans to develop a nuclear weapon has always been the lack of indigenous natural resources in Libya and the rudimentary state of its nuclear infrastructure and human resources. However, Libya’s long-standing interest in nuclear weapons, its support for international terrorism and past use of non-conventional (chemical) arms, deserve continuing and close monitoring of its nuclear intentions and capabilities.
A report issued in 1982 by the Congressional Research Service found that Libya would need to obtain extensive technical assistance and supplies from abroad to acquire nuclear weapons.(1) With the lifting of decade long sanctions on nuclear exports to Libya in September 2003, it appears that the technical assistance from abroad is now much more readily available to Libya.
(1) Congressional Research Service, “Analysis of Six Issues About Nuclear Capabilities of India, Iraq, Libya, and Pakistan, “ Prepared for the Subcommittee on Arms Control, Oceans, International Operations and Environment of the Committee on Foreign Relations United States Senate, 97th Congress, 1st Session, January 1982, p. 39, (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1982).
Sources:
1. Bhatia, Shyam, Nuclear Rivals in the Middle East, (London: Routledge, 1988).
2. Congressional Research Service, “Analysis of Six Issues About Nuclear Capabilities of India, Iraq, Libya, and Pakistan, “ Prepared for the Subcommittee on Arms Control, Oceans, International Operations and Environment of the Committee on Foreign Relations United States Senate, 97th Congress, 1st Session, January 1982, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1982).
3. “Libya Special Weapons,” Federation of the Atomic Scientists, web page accessed on September 20, 2003 <http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/libya/index.html>.
4. Spector, Leonard D., The New Nuclear Nations, (New York: Vintage Books, 1985).