The World - News from Jan. 1, 1989

The United States has determined that a West German company had a key role in helping Libya build a chemical plant and has strongly protested to Bonn, the New York Times said. Washington has charged that the plant makes chemical weapons; Tripoli denies the charge. The newspaper quoted unnamed Administration officials as saying that President Reagan and Secretary of State George P. Shultz had raised the issue with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in November. It quoted Dr. Jurgen Hippenstiel, the president of the Imhausen-Chemie company, as acknowledging that his firm has sought a contract in Libya for making plastic bags. But he denied that the company had any link to “the plant presumed to be making chemical weapons in Libya.”