TRIPOLI, Libya, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- As part of its effort to rejoin the international community, Libya has announced it will begin destroying its chemical weapon arsenal, the BBC said Friday.
The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which will monitor and oversee the destruction, said the process is expected to last until March 5.
Libya has an estimated 3,000 unfilled chemical bombs.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have already begun overseeing the dismantling of Libya's nuclear weapons program.
In January 1993, the Chemical Weapons Convention was signed by 160 countries that agreed to abandon such weapons. The convention closed to new signatories in 1977, but Libya has asked the United Nations permission to sign on as well.
