VARIOUS: RICHARD BUTLER BECOMES THE NEW HEAD OF (UNSCOM), THE U.N COMMISSION IN CHARGE OF RIDDING IRAQ OF ITS DANGEROUS WEAPONS

Record ID: 649386

  • Title: VARIOUS: RICHARD BUTLER BECOMES THE NEW HEAD OF (UNSCOM), THE U.N COMMISSION IN CHARGE OF RIDDING IRAQ OF ITS DANGEROUS WEAPONS
  • Date: 29th June 1997
  • Summary: UNITED NATIONS (JULY 1, 1997) (RTV) GV EXTERIOR OF UNITED NATIONS. 0.06
  • Embargoed: 14th July 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: UNITED NATIONS / NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES/ UNIDENTIFIED OCATION AND lLOCATION NEAR FORMER AL HAKAM BEIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PLANT, IRAQ
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVANY5NIICE5FHXXU2H9HHRM6E3
  • Story Text: Richard Butler, the new U.N. official in charge of ridding Iraq of dangerous weapons, has replaced Rolf Ekeus, who since 1991 started the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM), in charge of eliminating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
    Butler, who said he would visit Baghdad for the first time this month, on Tuesday (July 1) expressed particular concern about the country's germ warfare capability.
    Iraq has been under U.N. Security Council sanctions since its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
    The Special Commission's staf f destroys weapons, monitors suspected weapons sites, and searches for documents which it says describe current or past Iraqi weapons programmes.
    Ekeus says Iraq has lied repeatedly about its weapons programmes.
    Iraq recently balked at spot arms inspections, saying the Commission was intruding on sensitive sites. This prompted the United Nations Security Council on June 21 to threaten further sanctions in several months if Iraq did not cooperate fully with the Commission.
    In an interview in New York late last week, Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz dismissed Ekeus as a political tool of the United States and the United Kingdom, the two permanent Security Council members who are most vocal in support of continued sanctions againt Iraq.
    By contrast, Aziz praised Butler as a U.N. official who would be much less "political" than Ekeus.
    In an interview on Tuesday, Butler praised Ekeus and said he would report to the Security Council, as Ekeus did a few weeks ago, if Iraq fails to cooperate with the Special Commission.
    Butler said he was particularly worried about biological weapons. "Biology is a big concern at the present time," he siad.
    "The programme as far as we can see has not been small." Butler said, "In the hideous world of weapons of mass destruction, the biological stuff is just awful. This is the sort of thing that can kill tens of thousands of people with one bomb, one missile. They are illegal. So, of course, they are a matter of concern."
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