Haftar's militia claims it found uranium reported missing by IAEA in Libya

Khaled al Mahjoub, head of the media unit for the so-called Libyan National Army of warlord Khalifa Haftar, said in a statement that the 10 missing barrels had been recovered in the Sabha area of southern Libya.

In 2003 Libya under then-leader Muammar Gaddafi renounced its nuclear weapons programme, which had obtained centrifuges that can enrich uranium as well as design information for a nuclear bomb, though it made little progress towards a bomb.
Reuters

In 2003 Libya under then-leader Muammar Gaddafi renounced its nuclear weapons programme, which had obtained centrifuges that can enrich uranium as well as design information for a nuclear bomb, though it made little progress towards a bomb.

More than two tonnes of natural uranium declared missing by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog in war-torn Libya have been located in the country's east, a head of warlord Haftar's media unit said on Thursday.

Khaled al Mahjoub, head of a media unit for the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA), said in a statement that the 10 missing barrels had been recovered, though a separate video he sent showed workers counting 18.

In a post on his Facebook page, he also said that the containers of uranium were recovered "barely five kilometres (three miles)" from where they had been stored in the Sabha area of southern Libya.

The LNA is under the command of warlord Haftar, who has been fighting to take over the country from his base in the northeast. 

Earlier on Thursday, the AFP news agency reported on a confidential document from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which suggests that 2.5 tonnes of uranium had gone missing from a Libyan site and "may present a radiological risk".

Uranium ore concentrate is considered to emit low levels of radioactivity.

READ MORE: Haftar or Wagner? 'Non-state actors' suspected over lost uranium in Libya

In his Facebook post, Mahjoub published a video showing a man in a protective suit counting 18 blue containers, which was the total that had been stored at the site.

"The situation is under control. The IAEA has been informed," Mahjoub told AFP news agency.

He suggested the containers had been stolen and then abandoned by "a Chadian faction who thought they were weapons or ammunition".

Fighters from neighbouring Chad have previously been known to have bases in southern Libya.

The IAEA said it was aware of media reports that the material has been found and was working to verify them.

It told member states that the uranium ore concentrate had been at a site not under government control requiring complex logistics to reach.

The LNA, commanded by Haftar, was at war with western forces from 2014-20 and launched an assault on Tripoli in 2019 to try to take control of the UN-recognized government there.

Since that bout of conflict ended with a ceasefire, the political process aimed at reuniting Libya has stalled and eastern factions reject the legitimacy of the internationally recognised administration in Tripoli.

The LNA was backed in the conflict by the Russian Wagner Group, which a UN panel of experts said in 2020 had deployed up to 1,200 fighters in Libya. The LNA at times also fought alongside fighters from Chad. 

In 2003 Libya under then-leader Muammar Gaddafi renounced its nuclear weapons programme, which had obtained centrifuges that can enrich uranium as well as design information for a nuclear bomb, though it made little progress towards a bomb.

Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted Gaddafi. Since 2014, political control has been split between rival eastern and western factions, with the last major bout of conflict ending in 2020.

READ MORE: IAEA says tonnes of uranium missing from Libya site beyond govt control

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