Libya: Missing uranium containers found by IAEA (military source)

Containers containing about 2.5 tonnes of natural uranium reported missing from a site in Libya have been found by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a general of the country’s armed forces announced on Thursday from an eastern Libyan camp.

General Khaled al-Mahjoub, commander of the communications directorate of Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, said on his Facebook page that the containers were found “barely five kilometers” from where they were kept. in the Sebha region of southern Libya.

They published a video showing a man wearing a protective suit counting out 18 blue containers in English, which represent all the uranium stored at the site.

“The situation is under control, the IAEA has been informed,” General Mahjab told AFP.

In his Facebook post, General Mahjoub claimed that after IAEA inspectors found the containers missing during the voyage, “an armed LNA force found them just five km from the deposit in the direction of the Chadian border”.

He speculated that “the containers were stolen before being released by the Chadian faction, believing they were weapons or ammunition”.

Taking advantage of the chaos and porous borders, several Chadian and Sudanese factions have established their rear bases in southern Libya to engage in various smuggling.

The IAEA reported on Wednesday the disappearance of about 2.5 tonnes of natural uranium from a site in Libya, according to a statement sent to AFP.

During a visit on Tuesday, inspectors from the UN body “discovered that 10 containers with approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium were not present in the form of uranium concentrates (UOCs, also known as “yellow cakes”) where they were supposed to be stored. was declared by the authorities,” Director-General Raffaele Grossi wrote in a report to member states.

The IAEA said it would conduct additional investigations “to clarify the circumstances of the disappearance of this nuclear material and its current location”.