Energy News  
Libya Denies Long-Range Missile Plans


Tripoli (AFP) February 7, 2000 -
Libya denied Monday it wanted to acquire long-range missiles, accusing the United States of "spreading such accusations in order to justify its domination of Europe and the Mediterranean".

"The allegations of (US Defense Secretary) William Cohen that Libya and other countries are seeking to acquire missiles capable of hitting US and European soil do not stand up to reality," the spokesman of the foreign ministry in Tripoli said.

On Saturday, Cohen said that Iran, Iraq, Libya and North Korea were seeking to acquire or planned to equip themselves with long-range missiles which could hit US territory as well as Europe.

"These allegations are made to justify the US domination of Europe and the Mediterranean as well as the enlargement of NATO by (inclusion of) countries of the East and the South," the spokesman said.

He demanded that US officials "refrain from mentioning Libya's name in their accusations".

On January 22, Libya denied trying to acquire missiles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from North Korea, which could have reached Israel and the south of Europe.

The allegation was made in the Spanish daily El Pais, quoting a Spanish secret service report.

In January British customsmen said they had discovered 32 crates of missile parts packed under the name of a knitwear firm as they were about to be flown to Tripoli via Malta.

Arms sales to Libya are still banned under the terms of a European Union embargo and an international treaty prohibiting the proliferation of ballistic missiles.

Defence experts said the assembled Scud missiles would have had a range of around 900 kilometres (560 miles). The Sunday Times, which made the find public, claimed documents found with the crates indicated a series of parts had already made it safely to Tripoli.

Copyright 1999 AFP. All rights reserved. The material on this page is provided by AFP and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Space



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.























The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement