IRAQ: UNITED NATIONS INSPECTORS COMPLETE THEIR FIRST SITES INSPECTIONS IN FOUR YEARS IN SEARCH OF BANNED " WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION "

Record ID: 338024

  • Title: IRAQ: UNITED NATIONS INSPECTORS COMPLETE THEIR FIRST SITES INSPECTIONS IN FOUR YEARS IN SEARCH OF BANNED " WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION "
  • Date: 27th November 2002
  • Summary: (W2) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 27, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF UNITED NATIONS COMPOUND 0.03 2. SLV, U.N CARS 0.12 3. SLV MEDIA WAITING 0.14 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) MELISSA FLEMING SPOKESPERSON FOR INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY SAYING: "Everybody feels anxious to get going and very determined to start this systema
  • Embargoed: 12th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD AND AL-TAHADI, AL-RAFAH, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA8NLTBTO50D49593PQ5ZD1F5OQ
  • Story Text: United Nations arms inspectors have completed their
    first field mission in Iraq in four years at the start of a
    hunt for banned Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.



    U.N. arms inspectors completed their first field
    mission in Iraq in four years on Wednesday (November 27), the
    opening move in their search for banned Iraqi weapons of mass
    destruction.

    One group of inspectors spent around three hours at a
    large military compound east of Baghdad before returning to
    their headquarters at the old Canal Hotel on the outskirts of
    the capital at noon.

    The inspectors had left their headquarters at 8:30 a.m.

    (0530 GMT) and split into two groups, escorted by officials
    from Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate.

    "I think everybody feels excited and anxious to get going
    and very determined to start this systematic inspection,"
    Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic
    Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters as inspectors left their
    hotel.

    "We are just hopeful that things will go well today. We
    are looking forward to a good day of inspection," Fleming
    said.

    Journalists in around 50 cars had raced behind the convoys
    of white cars carrying the U.N. symbol across Baghdad, a city
    of around five million people.

    There was no immediate word from the inspectors, but a
    news briefing by the experts was scheduled for 6 p.m. (1500
    GMT).

    An Iraqi official said the inspection went smoothly.

    "They had questions and we replied to all of them and
    there were not any problems," Haitham Mahmoud, head of the
    al-Tahadi (Challenge) Factory, told reporters in English.

    He said the complex was a workshop to maintain water pumps
    and machinery.

    Later, a small inspection team accompanied by Iraqi
    officials left their headquarters, witnesses said. It was not
    immediately clear if they were on another inspection mission.

    The military compound visited by United Nations
    Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC)
    inspectors is run by Iraq's Military Industrialisation
    Commission. It has several buildings and security was tight.

    Iraqi guards stopped journalists from accompanying the
    experts. A large portrait of President Saddam Hussein with the
    slogan "God preserve Iraq and Saddam" stood by the gate.

    The inspections are in line with U.N. Security Council
    Resolution 1441, which offers Iraq a last chance to give up
    weapons of mass destruction which it denies possessing.

    The United States has threatened a war on Iraq if it does
    not disarm.

    Baghdad has been given until December 8 to declare any
    nuclear, chemical or biological weapons in an initial report
    to the United Nations Security Council.

    Under the new resolution, the inspectors must give their
    first report to the Security Council by January 27.

    The weapons inspectors will go to sites declared by Iraq,
    previously visited sites, sites that have been importing
    materials that need to be verified and new ones gleaned from
    satellite photos.

    Some 20 tonnes of equipment have already been flown in
    from Cyprus, including communications gear, computers,
    furniture and medicines. By mid-December, the team will have
    helicopters to help monitor large sites while inspections are
    taking place.

    Some of the equipment to be used includes complex ground-
    penetrating radars which can uncover underground facilities as
    well as radioactive isotope detectors.

    The 17 inspectors who arrived late on Monday have met
    Iraqi officials and prepared equipment to vet hundreds of
    sites.

    Some of the inspectors have been in Iraq before.

    The first group is made up of 11 officials from UNMOVIC
    and six from the IAEA. A further 30 to 35 inspectors will fly
    in on December 8 and by late December there should be between
    80 and 100 in Iraq.

    ik/jrc


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