GERMANY: THE HEAD OF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA) MOHAMED EL BARADEI SAYS IT IS TOO EARLY TO TELL WHETHER IRAQI DECLARATION ON WEAPONS IS CREDIBLE OR NOT

Record ID: 648791

  • Title: GERMANY: THE HEAD OF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA) MOHAMED EL BARADEI SAYS IT IS TOO EARLY TO TELL WHETHER IRAQI DECLARATION ON WEAPONS IS CREDIBLE OR NOT
  • Date: 8th December 2002
  • Summary: (EU) FRANKFURT, GERMANY (DECEMBER 7, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. MV INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA) DIRECTOR-GENERAL MOHAMED EL BARADEI STEPPING OUT OF PLANE 0.22 2. SOUNDBITE (English) MOHAMED EL BARADEI IAEA DIRECTOR-GENERAL, (asked if report will be credible) SAYING "We will get the report tomorrow in Vienna. We obviously need to go through an analysis and that will take us some time before we get some preliminary analysis. It's too early to tell. We will also have to see if it's all in English or whether some of it requires some translation into English. We understand some of it is in Arabic so we'll have to see. And we cannot judge. I hope it will come with a complete and comprehensive declaration." 0.51 SOUNDBITE (English) MOHAMED EL BARADEI IAEA DIRECTOR-GENERAL, (asked if he has had any indication from Baghdad about the report's contents) SAYING "No. We'll have it tonight, you know, but it will come to Vienna by tomorrow. The chemical and biological part will go to New York, the nuclear part will come to us. As I said, we need some days to go through it and make some preliminary assessments. We've also been asked by the Security Council to sanitise parts that are proliferation sensitive. We will have to go through it and make sure that the public part does not have sensitive information." 1.23 3. CLOSE-UP OF JOURNALIST 1.28 4. SOUNDBITE (English) MOHAMED EL BARADEI IAEA DIRECTOR-GENERAL, (asked whether he agrees with the U.S. idea of spiriting scientists out) SAYING "Well, we have the authority to interview people inside and outside Iraq. As I've said before, Hans Blix chairs that with me. If we need to interview people outside because they are afraid to be interviewed inside or are intimidated, if they are prepared to be interviewed outside and we think it's useful for our work and if we have arrangements for asylum outside, then we'll make that choice." 1.52 5. MV JOURNALIST TAKING NOTES 1.55 5. SOUNDBITE (English) MOHAMED EL BARADEI IAEA DIRECTOR-GENERAL, (asked whether he thinks North Korea is more dangerous than Iraq) SAYING : "They are both dangerous. I think they are both dangerous and we need to deal with both." 2.05 MV EL BARADEI WALKING BACK INTO PLANE 2.12 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 23rd December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVACZXAHX055OQBWFVAFHHOGPZFU
  • Story Text: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency
    (IAEA), Mohamed El Baradei, has said that it is too early to
    tell whether a declaration on Iraq's weapons programmes is
    credible or not.

    Iraq has shown international journalists a massive
    dossier on its arms programmes on Saturday (December 7, 2002)
    and declared it had no weapons of mass destruction.

    Baghdad unveiled its document shortly before it was due to
    hand it over to United Nations (U.N.) weapons inspectors.

    The dossier, which could spell the difference between war
    and peace, was shown to reporters at the Iraqi National
    Monitoring Directorate in central Baghdad.

    The declaration was contained in 11,807 pages, 352 pages
    of supplements and CD-Roms with a total 529 megabytes of data,
    according to a sign at the Directorate headquarters.

    The Iraqi declaration will be flown to Vienna, seat of the
    International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and to the United
    Nations in New York.

    Both the New York-based U.N. Monitoring and Verification
    Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the IAEA will vet the
    material.

    Diplomats say it could take a week before the 15 Security
    Council members get a copy.

    "We will get the report tomorrow in Vienna. We obviously
    need to go through an analysis and that will take us some time
    before we get some preliminary analysis," El Baradei told
    Reuters at Frankfurt airport on Saturday (December 07) before
    boarding a plane.

    U.N. arms experts resumed inspections in Iraq after a
    two-day break on Saturday (December 07), just hours before the
    country was due to hand in a declaration on its weapons
    programmes to meet a U.N. deadline.

    Iraq was expected to hand over its weapons declaration to
    the U.N. inspectors at around 1700 GMT later in the day.

    "We understand some of it is in Arabic so we'll have to
    see. And we cannot judge. I hope it will come with a complete
    and comprehensive declaration," El Baradei said.

    U.N. Security Council members have decided to postpone
    its release for as much as a week to allow U.N. experts to
    screen it for any military secrets that might help outsiders
    develop their own doomsday weapons.

    "We will have to go through it and make sure that the
    public part does not have sensitive information," El Baradei
    said.

    Asked whether he thinks North Korea is more dangerous than
    Iraq, El Baradei said: "They are both dangerous. I think they
    are both dangerous and we need to deal with both."

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