World IN BRIEF : LIBYA : Suspect ‘Medicine’ Plant to Open Soon

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi said a factory in Rabta “for the manufacture of medicines” will start up by June. The United States says the plant is a disguised chemical weapons plant. Kadafi told delegates to the opening session of the Arab Maghreb Union--composed of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia--that “each of you will be able to participate in it, visit it or buy medicines.” The U.S. State Department has said Libya’s claim of a fire at the plant in March, 1990, was a hoax aimed at forestalling a feared bombing attack on the factory.