The forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar announced on Thursday the discovery of 10 barrels of uranium, which the International Atomic Energy Agency reported missing in southern Libya.
On Wednesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a confidential statement to member states seen by Reuters that it had detected the loss of uranium during an inspection on Tuesday at an unnamed site in Libya, which it postponed last year due to the security situation.
In a statement, Maj. Gen. Khaled al-Mahjoub, director of Haftar's Moral Guidance Department, said they had found 10 barrels of missing uranium near the border with Chad, but a separate video he released showed workers counting 18 barrels found.
Mahjoub added that the site was a warehouse near the border with Chad that the International Atomic Energy Agency visited in 2020 and sealed with red wax. He said the barrels were found about 5 kilometers from the warehouse.
He pointed out that the agency pledged at the time to provide "guard needs", which include special clothes, masks and others to protect those in charge of guarding from diseases caused by this substance, but the agency did not provide these needs, according to the statement. The guards had to stay away from the warehouse.
Mahjoub speculated that a group of Chad raided the warehouse and took the barrels in the hope that they contained weapons or ammunition, but left them.
There was no immediate official comment from Libyan authorities on the IAEA's announcement.
In 2003, Libya abandoned a nuclear program that included centrifuges that could enrich uranium.