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

Record ID: 649387

  • 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: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 29, 1997) (RTV) SLV/SCU IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER TAREQ AZIZ, SAYING IT WAS THE UNITED STATES AND UNITED KINGDOM WHO APPLAUDED EKEUS BECAUSE HE WAS SERVING THEIR POLITICAL INTERESTS. BUT HE DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME SUPPORT FROM THE OTHER COUNTRIES ON THE COUNCIL. BOTH THE U.S. AND BRITAIN HAVE AN ECONOMIC INTEREST IN KEEPING SANCTIONS ON IRAQ. (ARABIC) 1.18 UNITED NATIONS (JULY 1, 1997) (RTV) SV RICHARD BUTLER, EKEUS'S SUCCESSOR AS HEAD OF THE UN SPECIAL COMMISSION ON ELIMINATING IRAQ'S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. BUTLER SAYING IN REPLY TO AZIZ'S CRITICISMS OF OF EKEUS, "FIRST OF ALL, I WOULDN'T WANT TO PERSONALISE IT IN THAT WAY. ROLF EKEUS DID AN OUTSTANDING JOB RIGHT TO THE LAST MOMENT, AND THAT MEANT HE HAD TO GO TO THE COUNCIL IN THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS OF HIS TERM IN THE JOB BECAUSE IRAQ SOUGHT TO PREVENT INSPECTIONS FROM TAKING PLACE. THAT WAS HIS JOB, HE DID IT PROPERLY, HE DID IT WELL. THE COUNCIL REACTED ACCORDINGLY. I MET AZIZ LAST THURSDAY AND I CAME AWAY WITH A SENSE THAT THE CHANCES ARE THERE CAN BE A RENEWED SENSE OF PURPOSE HERE, AND WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO MOVE FORWARD. I HOPE SO BUT REST ASSURED WHEN THERE ARE ACTIONS SUCH AS THOSE WHICH OCCURRED A FEW WEEKS AGO, THE CHAIRMAN OF UNSCOM MUST REPORT THEM TO THE COUNCIL. THAT'S WHAT ROLF DID. THERE WAS NOTHING REALLY PERSONAL ABOUT IT." (ENGLISH) 2.14
  • 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: LVAC6Z3NA0Q3H14K87JBU8ZW6TWW
  • 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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