TRIPOLI, Dec 27: Libya said on Saturday it would sign on to snap UN nuclear inspections allowing short-notice checks of its nuclear sites and said Israel had to begin dismantling its weapons of mass destruction.

“Libya will cooperate and deal with the agency (the IAEA) with complete transparency ... and Libya will sign the Additional Protocol.” Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam said at a news conference through an interpreter. “This is a clear message to everybody, especially the Israelis, they must start dismantling their weapons of mass destruction.”

The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said on Saturday Libya, which this month opened its nuclear facilities to international inspection, did not appear to have been close to building an atomic bomb.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei, flying to Tripoli from IAEA headquarters in Vienna, said there were no signs Libya had enriched uranium — a step that, were it taken, could be the first move to a bomb.

“From the look of it, they were not close to a weapon, but we need to go and see it and discuss the details with them,” he said in an interview on the way to Tripoli.

“The important thing for me is to get a comprehensive understanding of the programme — the origin, its history, its extent, and then agree with the Libyan authorities on a plan of action to eliminate whatever needs to be eliminated that is not linked to peaceful activities.”

Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi’s oil-rich state, long on the US list of sponsors of terrorism, now wants trading benefits, including an end to US sanctions, for his promise to abandon weapons of mass destruction.

Libya’s moves to scrap its illicit weapons programmes mark an about-face for the mercurial Qadhafi, who seized power 34 years ago.

Mr ElBaradei and his team of nuclear experts were met at Tripoli airport by what appeared to be several dozen Libyan security and government officials.

Vienna-based diplomats who watch the IAEA said they believed ElBaradei would also meet Qadhafi, who has pledged to let UN experts assess and dismantle banned weapons projects.

ElBaradei was accompanied by a team of nuclear experts with experience in both Iraq and Iran, which Washington accuses of having an Iraq-style nuclear weapons programme.

Iran denies this, but has acknowledged keeping a uranium enrichment programme secret for nearly two decades.—Reuters