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C-arms plant:

Libya rejects

US charge

CAIRO: Libya said on Thursday it would fight rather than give way to what it called U.S. bullying over a chemical weapons plant Washington says Libya is building.

Libyan Foreign Minister Omar Mustafa al-Montasser told a news conference in Cairo that the U.S. allegations, made by Defence Secretary William Perry last week, were part of a U.S. disinformation campaign to punish Libya for its policies.

"The United States always seeks a whipping boy and because the Soviet Union doesn't exist any more, the United States has picked on Libya," he said.

"There is no chemical weapons factory in all Libya, either above or below ground. I challenge the U.S. defence secretary and the Pentagon to prove the existence of anything that even looks like a factory in any tunnel in Libya," he added.

The United States says the factory is under ground near the town of Tarhouna, 60 km southeast of Tripoli.

Perry said the United States did not rule out military action to stop the alleged plant starting production.

Asked what Libya thought of this threat, Montasser said: "We take it very seriously but we will not acquiesce and we are willing to fight. It is really bullying. It (fighting) is going to be hard with modern weapons."

"There is an agenda against Libya. They don't like the way we do things but we like it. We won't be like the Soviet Union, breaking up under American pressure," he added.

"It is another disinformation lie carried out by the U.S. intelligence agency against Libya. It is because of Libya's stand against U.S. hegemony in the Arab and Third World."-Reuter