LIBYA - Jan. 9 - Britain Protests At Missile Part Smuggling.

Britain protests at Libya's "unacceptable" use of a London airport as a staging post for smuggling Scud missile parts into the north African country in defiance of an EU arms embargo. UK foreign secretary Robin Cook, says on Jan. 9 that he had instructed Richard Dalton, the UK's new ambassador in Tripoli, to convey Britain's "deep concern" to the Libyan authorities. UK Customs and Excise confirm that Scud missile parts, allegedly sent from Taiwan, were seized on Nov. 24 at Gatwick airport on their way to Libya via Malta. (The disclosure is particularly embarrassing because Britain has just ended a 15-year rift with Libya by re-establishing diplomatic relations. This came after 1999's moves by Libya to hand over the 2 suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing for trial in the Netherlands and to co-operate with UK police in investigating the 1984 murder of a British policewoman outside the Libyan embassy in London. Dalton took up his post in Tripoli in December, although there is no Libyan counterpart yet in London.) Foreign Office officials suggest that, provided it was not repeated, the Gatwick incident would not prevent the exchange of ambassadors being completed. (Britain is already aware of Libya's arms aims.) Cook claims the incident showed the UK government's wisdom in continuing to apply the EU arms embargo and international missile technology controls on Libya. (However, the incident is likely to be seen as justifying the US refusal to follow Britain in re-establishing diplomatic ties with Libya. Washington may also use it to bolster the case for anti-missile defences that the UK, like other European states, worries could upset the strategic balance with Russia and lead to a new arms race.) UK Customs and Excise officials claim there was nothing unusual in the month-and-a-half delay between the discovery of the Scud missile parts and Britain's diplomatic protest. They had had to call in experts to identify the parts, labelled as industrial components. (But the timing of the news leak, prompting Cook's protest, could have been designed to head off a possible visit by Libyan leader Muammer Qadhafi, the to the European Commission in Brussels.) A spokesman for Romano Prodi, the Commission president, had disclosed that the Libyan leader had telephoned Prodi before Christmas to invite him to Tripoli. Prodi countered by suggesting that Qadhafi might visit Brussels instead. On Jan. 9 UK officials acknowledge Prodi's general right to issue such invitations on his own account, but make clear their view that it would be ill-advised in the Libyan leader's case.