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W. Germany to Help U.S. Coordinate Against Chemical Weapons Plant

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West Germany will act jointly with the United States to make sure no chemical weapons are produced at the Rabta plant in Libya, which has already received equipment and material from West German firms.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl is sending one of his top aides, Wolfgang Schauble, to Washington shortly to coordinate these efforts, it was announced here Sunday.

Schauble will bring with him, among other things, documents containing what the government has learned from its investigation of German firms involved with the Libyan plant.

Schauble will brief the Americans on how Bonn intends to halt any help to Third World countries which could be used to manufacture chemical or biological weapons.

Schauble’s mission is seen here as a blow to the prestige of Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.

Genscher was among the German leaders who initially dismissed as inconclusive American evidence, since confirmed, that several West German factories were contributing to the Rabta plant’s weapons capability.

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