Five months after the armed uprising erupted in Libya, a new round of portable antiaircraft missiles - weapons that governments fear could be obtained by terrorists and then fired at civilian jetliners - have been slipping from storage bunkers captured by rebels.
In February, in the early stages of the uprising, large numbers of the missiles slipped from the hands of Col. Muammar el- Qaddafi's government as the rebels established control over eastern Libya and the ammunition depots there. The leakage resumed recently with rebel gains here in the western mountains, which opened up new ammunition stores.
The new leakage of the missiles, which are of the same type that officials in other African nations have said have already been trafficked over Libya's borders, underscores the organizational weakness of the forces opposed to Colonel Qaddafi; it also raises concerns that if more Qaddafi depots fall to the rebels, then further stocks of the weapons could become accessible to black markets.
Signs of the diversion are readily visible here, at an ammunition depot captured late last month from the Qaddafi forces after repeated NATO bombings. On a recent day, 43 emptied wooden crates - long, thin and painted in dark green - had been left behind on the sand inside the entrance. The boxes had not been there during a visit to the same spot a few days before, and the weapons were gone.
The stenciled markings showed each crate had contained a pair of lightweight missiles called SA-7s - early Soviet versions of the same class of weapon as the better known American-made Stingers, which were used by Afghan fighters against the Soviets in Afghanistan. It was not clear who had taken them. The rebel guards variously blamed Qaddafi forces and misinformed opposition fighters.
New Leaks of Antiaircraft Missiles From Rebel-Held Bunkers in Libya During more than four decades in power, Colonel Qaddafi's often bellicose government is thought to have acquired as many as 20,000 of these missiles, known as Manpads, for Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems, in arms deals with the former Eastern bloc.
Many are assumed to remain in the Qaddafi military's custody, American officials say, and others have been fired in the conflict, meaning that the number loose is most likely much smaller than the original stock. There has been no publicly available evidence that Libya's rebels are directly involved in missile trafficking. Rebel leaders say that if their fighters have taken any missiles, they meant to use them in battle, and that they say they suspect soldiers in the Qaddafi military of selling and smuggling these kinds of arms.
But American officials and Western security analysts say there are grave worries that once the weapons inherited by rebels have been made accessible and reach unsupervised hands, opportunistic smugglers can match them to potential buyers. In a telephone interview, Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political- military affairs, described the unsecured missiles in Libya as "one of the things that keep me up at night."
Two other American officials, speaking anonymously so as not to upset diplomatic relations with the rebels, said that after the initial leakage of the SA-7s the American government repeatedly asked the National Transitional Council, the de facto rebel authority, to collect and secure the missiles and to prevent more missiles from getting loose. When the depot here at Ga'a fell, however, those requests appeared to have had little effect.
"The rebels came from all over the western mountains, and they just took what they wanted," said Riyad, a supervisor of the ruined arsenal's small contingent of rebel guards.
In February, in the early stages of the uprising, large numbers of the missiles slipped from the hands of Col. Muammar el- Qaddafi's government as the rebels established control over eastern Libya and the ammunition depots there. The leakage resumed recently with rebel gains here in the western mountains, which opened up new ammunition stores.
The new leakage of the missiles, which are of the same type that officials in other African nations have said have already been trafficked over Libya's borders, underscores the organizational weakness of the forces opposed to Colonel Qaddafi; it also raises concerns that if more Qaddafi depots fall to the rebels, then further stocks of the weapons could become accessible to black markets.
Signs of the diversion are readily visible here, at an ammunition depot captured late last month from the Qaddafi forces after repeated NATO bombings. On a recent day, 43 emptied wooden crates - long, thin and painted in dark green - had been left behind on the sand inside the entrance. The boxes had not been there during a visit to the same spot a few days before, and the weapons were gone.
The stenciled markings showed each crate had contained a pair of lightweight missiles called SA-7s - early Soviet versions of the same class of weapon as the better known American-made Stingers, which were used by Afghan fighters against the Soviets in Afghanistan. It was not clear who had taken them. The rebel guards variously blamed Qaddafi forces and misinformed opposition fighters.
New Leaks of Antiaircraft Missiles From Rebel-Held Bunkers in Libya During more than four decades in power, Colonel Qaddafi's often bellicose government is thought to have acquired as many as 20,000 of these missiles, known as Manpads, for Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems, in arms deals with the former Eastern bloc.
Many are assumed to remain in the Qaddafi military's custody, American officials say, and others have been fired in the conflict, meaning that the number loose is most likely much smaller than the original stock. There has been no publicly available evidence that Libya's rebels are directly involved in missile trafficking. Rebel leaders say that if their fighters have taken any missiles, they meant to use them in battle, and that they say they suspect soldiers in the Qaddafi military of selling and smuggling these kinds of arms.
But American officials and Western security analysts say there are grave worries that once the weapons inherited by rebels have been made accessible and reach unsupervised hands, opportunistic smugglers can match them to potential buyers. In a telephone interview, Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political- military affairs, described the unsecured missiles in Libya as "one of the things that keep me up at night."
Two other American officials, speaking anonymously so as not to upset diplomatic relations with the rebels, said that after the initial leakage of the SA-7s the American government repeatedly asked the National Transitional Council, the de facto rebel authority, to collect and secure the missiles and to prevent more missiles from getting loose. When the depot here at Ga'a fell, however, those requests appeared to have had little effect.
"The rebels came from all over the western mountains, and they just took what they wanted," said Riyad, a supervisor of the ruined arsenal's small contingent of rebel guards.
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