This annotated chronology is based on the data sources that follow each entry. Public sources often provide conflicting information on classified military programs. In some cases we are unable to resolve these discrepancies, in others we have deliberately refrained from doing so to highlight the potential influence of false or misleading information as it appeared over time. In many cases, we are unable to independently verify claims. Hence in reviewing this chronology, readers should take into account the credibility of the sources employed here.

Inclusion in this chronology does not necessarily indicate that a particular development is of direct or indirect proliferation significance. Some entries provide international or domestic context for technological development and national policymaking. Moreover, some entries may refer to developments with positive consequences for nonproliferation.

January 2005
David Richmond, director-general for Defence and Intelligence of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and current chair of the G8 Senior Nonproliferation Officials Group, describes UK priorities on bioterrorism under its chairmanship of the G8 during 2005: "The UK is already engaged in a biological non-proliferation project in Georgia intended to redirect plant health scientists previously employed in the Soviet anti-crop programme. We are working in close collaboration with the US and Canada and other donors on identifying similar areas of potential work in Libya and Iraq."
--The CBW Conventions Bulletin, No. 67 (March 2005), p. 27.

5-6 January 2005
Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka visits Libya to discuss bilateral cooperation. Belka met with Colonel Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi and Libyan Prime Minister Shakri Ghanem. A bilateral cooperation accord concerning the nonproliferation of WMD was signed. Poland also agreed to help Tripoli in the conversion of its chemical weapons plant production from military to civil use and to assist in liquidating Libya's chemical weapons stockpile.
--"Opening a New Chapter - The First Day of Prime Minister Marek Belka's Visit to Libya" The Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Event Archive, 5 January 2005. <http://www.kprm.gov.pl/english/2130_7102.htm>; "Poland-Libya: Thawed Relations," The Warsaw Voice, 16 January 2005, <http://www.lexis-nexis.com>.

15-18 March 2005
The Executive Council of the OPCW holds its 40th session in the Hague. In the course of its discussions the Executive Council adopts a decision establishing specific extended deadlines for the destruction of 1%, 20%, and 45% of Libya's Category 1 chemical weapons stockpiles.
[See 30 November 2004]
--Chemical Disarmament Quarterly, Vol. 3 No. 2 (June 2005), p. 4.

31 March 2005
The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction presents its final report to the President. Although primarily tasked with reviewing intelligence capabilities in regard to current threats the Commission also compares "the Intelligence Community’s judgments concerning Libya’s weapons programs before Tripoli’s decision to open them to international scrutiny with current assessments, thereby providing a rare "before" and "after" study of U.S. intelligence assessments." In regard to Libya’s CW program the Commission concludes that the "Intelligence Community’s central judgment that Libya possessed chemical weapons agents and chemical weapons aerial bombs was correct, but Libya’s actual chemical agent stockpile proved to be smaller in quantity than the Intelligence Community estimated."
--Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, Report to the President of the United States (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2005), p. 254, <http://www.wmd.gov/report/chapter2_fm.pdf>.

4 July 2005
H.E. Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), attends the opening of the Fifth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Sirte, Libya. During his time in Sirte the Director-General met the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Alpha Oumar Konare, to discuss developments in the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Director-General’s attendance at this meeting was part of the OPCW’s continuing push to promote universality and full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in Africa.
--OPCW Director-General attends opening of the African Union Summit in Libya, meets Chairperson Konare, Press release #29, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 5 July 2005, <http://www.opcw.org/html/
global/ press_releases/2005/PR29_2005.html>.

10 November 2005
The Tenth Session of the OPCW CSP grants, in principle, a Libyan request for extensions of the intermediate deadlines for the destruction of its Category 1 chemical weapon stockpiles. The Executive Council of the OPCW will establish specific dates for the 1%, 20%, and 45% deadlines at its next regular meeting in March 2006. Libya is still required to meet the final destruction deadline of 29 April 2007 and must make regular reports to the Executive Council of the OPCW detailing progress made in meeting its CW destruction obligations.
--Decision: Request by the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for Extensions of the Intermediate Deadlines for the Destruction of its Category 1 Chemical Weapons Stockpiles C-10/DEC.10, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 10 November 2005, <http://www.opcw.org/docs/csp/csp10/en/
c10dec10.pdf>.

13-23 March 2006
A Libyan representative attends the third Basic Course for OPCW National Authorities implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in Paris, France. The course which is jointly organized by the OPCW and the French government is conducted at the French Training Centre for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (Centre français de formation pour l’interdiction des armes chimiques CEFFIAC).
--Chemical Disarmament Quarterly, Vol. 4 No. 2 (June 2006), p. 21.

30 March 2006
In Washington D.C. James Tegnelia, Director of the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), states that the U.S. government is considering a Libyan request to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile. Tegnelia notes that that destroying the Libyan stockpile of CW agent and precursors would be a difficult proposition given the harsh climate and isolated location of the current storage site. He also notes that the cost could be as high as 100 million U.S. dollars. Tegnelia observed that the Libyan government has both the responsibility and the financial resources to undertake CW demilitarization without U.S. financial assistance.
--The CBW Conventions Bulletin, No. 72+73 (September 2006), p. 19.

16-26 October 2006
A Libyan representative attends the fourth Basic Course for OPCW National Authorities implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in Paris, France. The course which is jointly organized by the OPCW and the French government is conducted at the French Training Centre for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (Centre français de formation pour l’interdiction des armes chimiques CEFFIAC).
--Chemical Disarmament Quarterly, Vol. 4 No. 4 (December 2006), p. 37.

December 2006
The United States and Libya signed a contract to cooperate in carrying out the destruction of Libya’s remaining stockpile of chemical weapons: believed to include 23 metric tons of old mustard gas and 1,300 metric tons of precursor chemicals. Under the terms of the contract the United States will pay $45 million or about 75 percent of the estimated destruction costs. Most of the money will be spent on the construction of a specialized incineration facility at the chemical weapons storage site in the Libyan Desert south of Tripoli. The remaining 25 percent of the project cost is to be paid by the Libyan government.
--Carol Giacomo, "U.S.-Libya chemical arms-related deal in doubt", Washington Post, 8 June 2007, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>.

8 December 2006
The Eleventh Session of the OPCW CSP grants a Libyan request to extend its final deadline for the destruction of its Category 1 chemical weapon stockpiles to 31 December 2010. The formal decision also establishes new intermediate deadlines for the destruction process. Phase 1 (1%), is to be completed by 1 May 2010; phase 2 (20%), is to be completed by 1 July 2010; and phase 3 (45%), is to be completed by 1 November 2010. Libya is also required to complete the destruction of its Category 2 chemical weapons as soon as possible, but in any case no later than 31 December 2011.
--Decision: Proposal by the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for the Establishment of Specific Dates for Intermediate Destruction Deadlines, and Its Request for an Extension of the Final Deadline for the Destruction of Its Category 1 Chemical Weapons, C-11/DEC.15, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 8 December 2006, <http://www.opcw.org/docs/csp/csp11/en/
c11dec15(e).pdf>.

May 2007
The Libyan government gives notice that it is withdrawing from a cooperative contract for the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile signed with the United States in late 2006.
--Carol Giacomo, "U.S.-Libya chemical arms-related deal in doubt", Washington Post, 8 June 2007; Alex Bollfrass, Arms Control Today, Vol. 37 No. 6 (July / August 2007), <http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2007_07-08/Libya.asp>.

11-22 June 2007
Libyan representatives attend basic and advanced practical training courses on chemical weapons response. The courses, provided by the Republic of Serbia and the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW are offered as part of a new chemical weapons response capacity-building initiative specifically targeted at North African member states. States benefiting from the program are Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. In addition to the contributions of the OPCW and Republic of Serbia the initiative is supported by the European Union (EU), through its third Joint Action in support of OPCW activities.
--Chemical Weapons Response Capacity-Building Training Course for North African Member States Conducted in Kruševac, Serbia, Press Release #72, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 6 July 2007,
http://www.opcw.org/pressreleases/2007/PR72_2007.html

18 June 2007
Libya formally withdraws from an agreement with the United Stats to share the costs of destroying the remaining Libyan stocks of chemical warfare agents and precursors. In announcing their decision to withdraw from the agreement Libyan representatives express "concerns about indemnification, cost-sharing, and the disposition of the equipment used to destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles." In discussing the end of the contract United States officials "expressed confidence that Libya is dedicated to destroying its stockpile."
--Alex Bollfrass, Arms Control Today, Vol. 37 No. 6 (July / August 2007), <http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2007_07-08/Libya.asp>.

16-21 September 2007
Libyan representatives participate in the third Toxic Chemicals Training course for North African States Parties from 16 to 21 September 2007 at the Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) Training and Testing Centre, in Zemianske Kostol'any, Slovak Republic. The course involved open-air training with live CW agents.
--Chemical Disarmament Quarterly, Vol. 5 No. 4 (December 2007), p. 27.

25-28 September 2007
At the 50th session of the OPCW Executive Council Libya presents a national paper entitled "Information on the Measures Being Under taken to Complete Conversion of the
Former Chemical Weapons Production Facilities Rabta Pharmaceutical Factory 1 and Rabta Pharmaceutical Factory 2, Rabta, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya." No details of the papers contents are publicly released.
--Chemical Disarmament Quarterly, Vol. 5 No. 4 (December 2007), p. 5-6.

5-9 November 2007
At the Twelfth session of the OPCW Conference of States Parties meeting in the Hague Libya is elected as a member of the OPCW Executive council for the period 2008 to 2010.
--Chemical Disarmament Quarterly, Vol. 5 No. 4 (December 2007), p. 4.

27-30 November 2007
At the 51st session of the OPCW Executive Council presents a "Report on the Progress of Destruction of Category 1 and 2 Chemical Weapons Stockpiles." Although the report is not made public it is known that destruction activities have not yet commenced [See May and June 2007].
--Chemical Disarmament Quarterly, Vol. 6 No. 1 (March 2008), p. 4.

24 December 2007
A report by the Bloomberg news agency notes that the United States and ibya are still unable to reach agreement on the details of assistance for Libyan CW destruction activities. The United States has offered forty-five million dollars in aid while Libya continues to demand sixty-five million dollars.
--Viola Gienger, U.S. Balks at Libya's Demand for Money to Scrap Chemical Arms, Bloomberg, 24 December 2007, <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
news?pid=20601103&sid=ao3wMhrOWsLE&refer=us#>.

7-18 April 2008
A Libyan delegation attends the 2nd CWC Review Conference in the Hague.
--Report Of The Second Special Session Of The Conference Of The States Parties To Review The Operation Of The Chemical Weapons Convention (Second Review Conference) 7 - 18 April 2008, RC-2/4, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 18 April 2008, http://www.opcw.org/docs/csp/rc2/en/rc204(e).pdf.

9 April 2008
Libya makes a statement to the plenary session of the 2nd OPCW Review Conference. In the statement the Libyan representative asserts “that they are doing their utmost to implement the CWC. They have declared their stockpiles and had OPCW inspections. According to the Libyan representative they have destroyed 100% of their schedule 3 chemicals, 39% of schedule 2 chemicals, and are prepared to fully cooperate with the OPCW and are committed to meeting the 2012 deadline for full destruction.” In addition Libya reportedly criticizes “Israel and call[s] on them to adhere to the CWC as their continued non-involvement has serious negative consequences for the implementation of the convention.”
--Chemical Weapons Convention Archive, 9 April 2008, http://fas.org/blog/cw/2008/04/day-3-albania-and-libya.html.

	Updated October 2008