An official in the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's forces in Libya announced, Thursday, the discovery of uranium containers that the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed were missing in Libya.

"In response to what was stated in the International Atomic Energy Agency's report on the loss of 2.5 tons of uranium" in Libya, the Secretary-General of the General Command of the Libyan Armed Forces, Major General Khaled Al-Mahjoub, said, "A force from the army was assigned and found these barrels in an area only About five kilometers from the warehouse "in which it was originally" in the direction of the Chadian border.

And according to a report prepared by the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, to the member states, the inspectors of the UN body discovered, during a visit they conducted on Tuesday in Libya, that "ten containers containing about 2.5 tons of natural uranium in the form of uranium concentrate ("yellow cake") were no longer available. It is located at the location that the authorities had announced."

Al-Mahjoub explained that the containers were located in a location in southern Libya, and that the IAEA visited it in 2020, made an inventory of the quantity, and "closed the warehouse door with red wax."

He pointed out that the agency pledged at the time to secure "the needs of the guards," which include "special clothes, masks, and others to protect those charged with guarding against the 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.

Al-Mahjoub attached his statement, posted on his Facebook page, to a videotape showing a man wearing protective clothing counting 18 barrels.

Al-Mahjoub confirmed in a phone call with Agence France-Presse that the agency had been informed of the discovery of the barrels. and "the situation is under control".

In his statement, he believed that those who seized the barrels "are ignorant of their nature and do not know their danger and left them after realizing that they are useless," and it is likely that the culprit is a Chadian faction.

The IAEA had stated that the site, which it did not name, was "not under the control of the government" recognized by the United Nations and based in Tripoli.

Since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 after 42 years of rule, Libya has witnessed chaos and power struggles.

Today, two governments are fighting over power, one in the capital (west) headed by Abdul Hamid al-Dabiba, and the other in Sirte headed by Fathi Bashagha, supported by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the strong man in the Libyan east.