December 21, 2003	Sunday	Shawwal 26, 1424

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WASHINGTON, Dec 20: US President George W. Bush revealed on Friday that Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi had agreed to give up weapons of mass destruction his regime had stockpiled.

These include stocks of chemical weapons, components for building nuclear weapons and other WMD-making materials and programmes, Mr Bush told a news conference.

To make this announcement, which was made simultaneously by Prime Minister Tony Blair in London, Mr Bush made a rare appearance in the White House pressroom. Usually, the press corps is taken to the Oval Office or the Rose Garden for presidential briefings. The pressroom briefings are conducted by the White House press secretary.

Mr Bush said Col Qadhafi had also agreed to immediate and unconditional inspections by international organizations to carry out an accounting of materials and oversee their elimination.

“Libya should carry out the commitments announced today,” Mr Bush said. “Libya should also fully engage in the war against terrorism.

“As the Libyan government takes these essential steps and demonstrates its seriousness, its good faith will be returned. Libya can regain a secure and respected place among the nations, and over time, achieve far better relations with the United States.”

A senior US official, who briefed journalists after Mr Bush, said Libya had approached the United States through Britain last March.

On two occasions teams of US and British intelligence officials, experts in various aspects of weapons of mass destruction, travelled to Libya and were taken to various sites by Libyan officials. “The Libyans were quite open,” the official said.

AFP adds: “Libya will henceforth lead countries working towards ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction,” announced Mr Qadhafi in Tripoli after his government issued a statement on Friday renouncing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

The statement, issued to reporters by Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Shalgam, was in contravention of Tripoli’s previous insistence that Libya did not have any WMDs.

Mr Qadhafi said the move heralded “a key role (for Libya) in building a world free of terrorism, of all these weapons, a world at peace and in development.”

In the statement, Libya admitted that “it tried to develop its defensive capabilities when its calls to make the Middle East and Africa zones exempt from all weapons of mass destruction went unheeded.

“Libya reaffirms its commitment to all conventions, including the addendum protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and declares itself ready to welcome any international inspection mission.”

The statement declared that Libya had “formally decided of its own free will to renounce all these substances, equipment and programmes, to become a country free of weapons of mass destruction.”

At the discreet talks with Washington and London, Libyan delegates had submitted information on “substances, equipment and programmes which are used to produce WMDs.

This included “centrifuges and equipment for transporting chemical products,” the statement said.