• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Title:  "Inspectors Leave Iraqi Ministry Without Documents." The UN weapons experts completed their inspection of Iraq's Agricultural Ministry building without taking any documents. (920729)

Author:  AITA, JUDY (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date:  19920729

Text:
INSPECTORS LEAVE IRAQI MINISTRY WITHOUT DOCUMENTS

(Weapons inspectors returning to Bahrain) (340) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The U.N. weapons experts completed their inspection of Iraq's Ministry of Agriculture building without taking any documents, then left for Bahrain, the United Nations said July 29.

Nikita Smedovich, a spokesman for the Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraq's weapons (UNSCOM) said that Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, UNSCOM chairman, the team of nine inspectors, and support personnel "took notes, took some photographs. No material or documents were removed from the building."

Smedovich added that "some traces attracted the attention" of the inspectors, but the "significance" of what they saw during their two-day inspection must be assessed by the entire team in Bahrain.

Other U.N. officials noted that the inspectors -- as Ekeus had predicted -- found empty file cabinets and evidence that equipment had been removed.

The inspection was carried out after a 21-day standoff between the Special Commission and Iraq over the U.N.'s right to enter the building. Iraq had argued that an inspection of the ministry would violate its sovereignty -- though U.N. officials asserted that the U.N.-brokered cease-fire guaranteed them unimpeded access to any Iraqi facility suspected of housing either material or information on weapons of mass destruction.

Asked whether Ekeus had visited the office of the minister of agriculture, the spokesman said that neither Ekeus nor any other member of the U.N. team ever visited the minister's office.

Before leaving Baghdad, Ekeus met with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz to discuss "the course of future inspections," Smedovich said. He insisted that the intensive talks over the ministry inspection did not "create any precedence for the future."

UNSCOM has begun aerial surveillance and will soon begin long term monitoring of some sites. The commission also had dates set and sites targeted for inspections in the coming months, but Ekeus may change the timetable when he returns to New York July 30, he said.

NNNN

File Identification:  07/29/92, PO-301; 07/29/92, AE-304; 07/29/92, EP-303; 07/29/92, EU-305; 07/29/92, NE-304
Product Name:  Wireless File
Product Code:  WF
Keywords:  IRAQ/Defense & Military; INSPECTIONS; ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION; NUCLEAR WEAPONS; UNITED NATIONS-SPECIAL COMMISSION ON IRAQ; EKEUS, ROLF
Thematic Codes:  1NE; 1AC; 1UN
Target Areas:  AF; EA; EU; NE
PDQ Text Link:  236892
USIA Notes:  *92072901.POL