U.N. to inspect Libya soon

VIENNA - The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Monday that he will lead the first inspection of Libya's nuclear facilities as soon as next week, aiming to kick-start the elimination of the country's programs for weapons of mass destruction.

In the wake of Libya's surprise admission, Pakistan acknowledged Monday the possibility that some of its scientists may have provided nuclear technology to foreign nations.

Pakistan's government has strongly denied allegations it gave such information to countries such as Iran, North Korea and Libya, but said Monday it has questioned the founder of its nuclear program as part of its inquiry into whether any of its scientists acted without authorization.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told the Associated Press in Islamabad, "Some individuals may have been doing something on their own."

Both Libya and Iran have imported centrifuges for uranium enrichment, although Libya - which publicly admitted Friday to having weapons of mass destruction - says it stopped short of an enrichment program. Diplomats have identified Pakistan as one source of Iran's equipment procurement.

The founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, was questioned as part of the debriefing of a "very small number of scientists" but is not in custody, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan.

"No restrictions have been imposed on him," he added.

At least two scientists from Khan Research Laboratories, the country's top nuclear laboratory named after its founder, have been held for questioning this month.

The Bush administration on Monday registered its confidence in Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf assured Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2002 that Pakistan was not leaking any technology, "and we continue to accept that assurance," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday.

At the same time, Boucher said, "we'd certainly welcome Pakistan's investigation and its debriefing of individuals who may have valuable information" bearing on Musharraf's assurances.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he would lead the first inspection there perhaps as early as next week.

In Washington, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the United States expects Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi "to act on the commitments he's made."

"And the initial signs are positive," McClellan said.

ElBaradei said much of Libya's technology came from abroad but declined to say whether there was a common source for Libya, Iran or prewar Iraq - or whether the three nations exchanged equipment and expertise.

"There has been, of course, a good deal of importation from abroad of equipment and material," he told reporters. "We do not know yet whether there was any linkage with other nations."

The AP, quoting unnamed diplomats familiar with the agency, reported that ElBaradei could fly to Tripoli on Friday. They also said he and the IAEA were scrambling to play catchup after being caught off guard by Libya's admission of having weapons of mass destruction and its decision to scrap them - the result of nine months of secret negotiations with Britain and the United States.

Libya agreed to tell the IAEA about current nuclear programs, adhere to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and sign an additional protocol to allow wide-ranging inspections on short notice.

ElBaradei said Libya's weapons research effort started with a program to enrich uranium through spinning in centrifuges "sometime in the '80s (and) picked up steam in the '90s."

Gadhafi's decision to come clean is the latest in a series of moves to end his country's international isolation and shed its reputation as a rogue nation.

The United States imposed sanctions in 1986, accusing Libya of supporting terrorist groups. Ten years later, America passed the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act, which threatened to penalize the U.S. partners of European companies that did significant business in Libya and Iran.

While U.S. sanctions remain in force, the U.N. Security Council voted to abolish its sanctions on Libya in September, after it agreed to pay compensation to families of the Lockerbie bombing.

Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on Dec. 21, 1988, killing 259 people on the plane and 11 on the ground. A former Libyan intelligence agent was found guilty of the bombing in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison.

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