The head of UN body the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced his agreement with senior US and British officials that his agency would oversee the dismantling of Libya 's atomic arms programme by US and British experts.
Diplomats said Mr Mohamed ElBaradei had received assurances that the UN agency would play a leading role in Libya. The IAEA was squeezed out of Iraq by the United States and out of North Korea when Pyongyang expelled its inspectors in 2002,
"I think we have an agreement on what needs to be done. The agency's role is very clear. We need to do the verification," Mr ElBaradei told reporters outside the US mission to the United Nations in Vienna. "I think we reached a very good agreement."
Mr ElBaradei made the comments after meeting Mr John Bolton, the US undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, and his British counterpart, Mr William Ehrman.
Last month, Libyan leader Mr Muammar Gadafy pledged to abandon efforts to acquire nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in a surprise deal with Washington and London.