VARIOUS: CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR HANS BLIX MEETS FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER IN PARIS/ U.N. WEAPONS TEAM GATHER IN CYPRUS.

Record ID: 640756

  • Title: VARIOUS: CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR HANS BLIX MEETS FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER IN PARIS/ U.N. WEAPONS TEAM GATHER IN CYPRUS.
  • Date: 16th November 2002
  • Summary: (W5) PARIS, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 16, 2002) (REUTERS) (CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY) GV: EXTERIOR FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY GV/PAN: CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR HANS BLIX ARRIVING AT FOREIGN MINISTRY MV: HANS BLIX SHAKING HANDS WITH FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER DOMINIQUE DE VILLEPIN MCU/GV: VARIOUS OF HANS BLIX AND DOMINIQUE DE VILLEPIN SITTING AND CHATTING (4 SHOTS) MV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR HANS BLIX SAYING: "It was not an easy matter and we remember that the resolution from 1999 was not adopted by unanimity, but this time we have the whole council behind us. We are a subsidiary organ of the Security Council to perform the inspections in Iraq. And our strength is directly dependent upon the support, the full support of the security council. With this resolution now adopted by unanimity we feel that now we have that, we know also that if there is not full co-operation by Iraq we will be backed up to the full by the council." GV: MEDIA MV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR HANS BLIX SAYING: "Now, it's clear that immediate access is valuable because the Iraqi side could hide documents or smaller things. It is not important for very big things, big weapons or big machinery, but nevertheless, smaller things are also important, especially documents. So, a denial of access, or delayed access, or trying to put something off-bounds for us, this would be a very serious thing." MV: MEDIA MV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR HANS BLIX SAYING: "If people had asked me, can you be absolutely sure that you will have no spies from any member states, then I'd say no, I don't think that either the KGB nor the CIA could give that absolute assurance, so all that I can tell you is that if I see someone having two hats then I'll ask them to walk out from us and be somewhere else." LV/MV/GV/PAN: JOURNALISTS AT PRESS CONFERENCE; HANS BLIX LEAVING PRESS CONFERENCE (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 1st December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LARNACA, CYPRUS/ PARIS, FRANCE/ BAGHDAD AND UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, IRAQ
  • City:
  • Country: Cyprus Iraq France
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8HRLPWTBTJWXT0N9ONOS8J4B7
  • Story Text: Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix has held talks with the French government on his way to Baghdad as the United Nations prepared to resume weapons inspections after a four-year halt.
    The United Nations' (U.N.) chief weapons inspector Hans Blix met with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin in Paris on Saturday (16 November) to brief the minister on the schedule for arms inspections in Iraq -- due to resume on November 27 -- and set up a line of communication for the weeks ahead.
    The 74-year-old former Swedish foreign minister will then travel on Sunday (November 17) to Cyprus -- the rear-base for the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) -- and on to Baghdad on Monday, with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohammed ElBaradei.
    Their first task will be re-opening laboratories, offices and communications facilities and meeting Iraqi officials.
    France played a key role in drawing up U.N. Security Resolution 1441, which orders Iraq to accept an enhanced inspection regime or face "serious consequences," and the government in Paris wants to stay closely abreast of developments in Iraq.
    Iraq, under resolution 1441, adopted on November 8, has to give a "full, accurate and complete" declaration of all its programs and material that can be used to develop chemical, biological and nuclear arms, and ballistic missiles.
    "With this resolution now adopted by unanimity we feel that now we have that, we know also that if there is not full co-operation by Iraq we will be backed up to the full by the council," Blix told reporters at a news conference.
    The resolution says any false information in the declaration and a failure to co-operate with weapons inspectors would constitute a "material breach" -- legal terminology that could trigger an attack by the United States (U.S.) against Baghdad.
    "It's clear that immediate access is valuable because the Iraqi side could hide documents or smaller things. It is not important for very big things, big weapons or big machinery, but nevertheless, smaller things are also important, especially documents. So, a denial of access, or delayed access, or trying to put something off-bounds for us, this would be a very serious thing," Blix said.
    Iraqi President Saddam Hussein agreed to allow U.N.
    weapons inspectors to return to Iraq after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the toughly worded resolution.
    Iraqi TV on Saturday (November 16) showed a still photo of Saddam and a newsreader quoted him as saying that he overruled the parliament's recommendation to reject the resolution in order to "save and protect the Iraqi people, and prevent giving the enemy a pretext for staging a war."
    Baghdad, however, insisted in a nine-page letter to U.N.
    Secretary-General Kofi Annan that it doesn't have any such weapons.
    January 27 has been set as the 60-day deadline, for the inspection team to prepare the first required report to the Security Council.
    After his stop-over in Paris Blix, and ElBaradei, are scheduled to fly to Cyprus on Sunday (November 17) before heading off for Baghdad the following day.
    A field office at the seaside resort of Larnaca has been set up ahead of their arrival.
    Located in a hotel close to the airport, the office is expected to assist inspectors travelling to and from the Iraqi capital and facilitate the transit of equipment.
    Blix and ElBaradei will be accompanied by a 25-member advance team charged with re-opening the office used by the previous inspections regime and setting up new secure phone lines, transportation and laboratories before the arrival of the full working team on November 27.
    A United Nations chartered C-130 airplane is on standby at the airport ready to carry the inspection team to Baghdad.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register