Libya asks for Britain's help to remove weapons

Libya's prime minister, Ali Zeidan, has asked Britain to help remove Gadaffi-era weapons from the country, after warnings from the UN that arms are being smuggled to the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

During talks with Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street, Zeidan said that dealing with weapons left over from the collapse of the Gaddafi regime was "an international matter and we need assistance".

"We would like to work with you and co-operate with you, especially in the field of removing weapons from Libya, which I think is not just a Libyan matter," he added.

The UN Security Council was warned yesterday of a "worrying" growth in the movement of weapons and ammunition across Libya's borders "and an increasing number of reported cases of trafficking in such materiel to Syria".

Libyan weapons were used by terrorists in a seige on a BP gas plant in Algeria in January which claimed the lives of six Britons.