ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:96041701.NNE
DATE:04/17/96
TITLE:17-04-96 UNSCOM BELIEVES IRAQ STILL WITHHOLDING WEAPONS DATA
TEXT:
(Semi-annual report to Security Council) (1060)
By Judy Aita
USIA United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- Despite Iraq's cooperation with the U.N., the
Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi weapons
(UNSCOM) still has "serious concerns" that not all prohibited
chemical, biological and ballistic weapons have been accounted for and
disposed of, according to an UNSCOM report to the Security Council.
The written report from UNSCOM Chairman Ambassador Rolf Ekeus said
that "there are still significant deficiencies and gaps in Iraq's
disclosures on chemical and biological weapons, proscribed ballistic
missiles and related capabilities. The commission has noted recent
acquisitions of prohibited items by Iraq. This means that the
commission has serious concerns that a full accounting and disposal of
Iraq's holdings of prohibited items has not been made."
In the report, which was released April 16, Ekeus told the Security
Council that even though Iraq has turned over an enormous amount of
significant data to UNSCOM in the past months, the commission "is
convinced that more documents remain in Iraq."
Nevertheless, Ekeus said that even with Iraqi cooperation on
clarifying outstanding issues, "progress cannot be achieved without
thorough inspection activities by the commission." Especially
disturbing has been the series of Iraqi attempts to stop U.N. weapons
inspectors from entering installations to search for material related
to the production of chemical, biological and ballistic weapons banned
by the Gulf War cease-fire agreement.
Iraq's interference in the on-site inspections only fuels beliefs that
Baghdad is "still hiding items of significance," the report said.
"In all areas ... Iraq has yet to provide sufficient evidence that it
does not still possess proscribed weapons or materials related to
them," the report said.
Ekeus said there are qualitative gaps in UNSCOM's knowledge of the
weapons programs in Iraq, specifically in the biological weapons
program and biological weapon agents which were loaded into actual
armaments, the whereabouts of which are still unclear.
UNSCOM is also uncertain about the precursors for a chemical warfare
agent which was also prepared for weaponization. There are gaps in
UNSCOM's knowledge of a development program for missiles with ranges
of 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers, which could be of significant military
concern to Iraq's neighbors and others in the region, the report said.
Documents obtained in August 1995 showed that Iraq's chemical weapons
program was more developed and wider in scope than had been previously
admitted and that Iraq had used chemical weapons facilities to support
other weapons programs, the report pointed out.
UNSCOM still wants information on the level of expertise reached in
research and development activities on chemical weapons agents,
large-scale production, and delivery systems as well as on precursor
production capability and dual-use equipment. The commission also is
seeking more data on Iraq's work with the highly toxic V class
chemical warfare agents.
"At the beginning of 1989 Iraq had in its possession the necessary
quantities of precursors for the large-scale production of (chemical
warfare agent) VX. Those precursors were stated by Iraq to have been
unilaterally destroyed but until Iraq produces more evidence to
substantiate this destruction, the commission cannot be fully
confident that VX production capabilities, stocks of precursors, and
appropriate munitions do not remain in Iraq," the report said.
The report also said that in March a team of UNSCOM inspectors
excavated buildings at the Al Muthanna facility in search of chemical
weapons documents. It unearthed some 5,000 pages of books, memoranda,
booklets, letters and organization papers; approximately 100 computer
discs, catalogues and journals; and 80 munitions and components
including 122 mm chemical warheads and 155 mm binary artillery shells.
UNSCOM is now analyzing the material.
"The figures for chemical weapons precursors, agents and munitions
produced, procured and destroyed have been changed and dates of
activities shifted" in Iraq's latest submission to UNSCOM and no
supporting documents were included, the report said. "... The strong
presumption must be that the changes have been made on the basis of
information which Iraq has not yet disclosed to the Commission."
The gaps, though relatively small in comparison to the enormous amount
of information the U.N. has on Iraq's banned weapons programs, are
important in terms of the key elements they hold for verifying that
the U.N. has the complete scope of the weapons programs, Ekeus said.
Diplomats said that Ekeus told the Security Council he is anxious to
get all the necessary information and will have some proposals to make
to the Iraqi government on how the outstanding issues might be settled
in the coming months.
Some of UNSCOM's concerns come from trying to verify Iraq's claims
that in 1991 "it secretly destroyed large quantities of these
prohibited weapons and materials instead of declaring and handing them
over for the commission's verification," the report said. Such
destruction would have been "in flagrant violation" of its obligations
under resolution 687.
"In the absence of documents or actual evidence that biological and
chemical weapons and missiles and launchers were actually destroyed,
the commission continues to encounter great difficulties" in
establishing a balance between what Iraq has claimed was destroyed and
the evidence of how much supplies and material there was according to
documents found in Iraq or supplied to UNSCOM from outside suppliers.
The report also said that states can help speed up the verification
process by providing any information they may still have concerning
training or sales that could have been used by Iraq in the now-banned
weapons programs.
UNSCOM also remains concerned about Iraq's procurement from abroad of
prohibited and so-called "dual-use items" that can be diverted from
other normal industrial uses to weapons production.
The commission pointed out "the elaborate system for the acquisition
of components and machine tools for Iraq's missile production efforts"
is a main example of why a firm on-going monitoring and verification
system and an early implementation of the export/import reporting
system adopted by the Security Council in late March are needed.
The mandatory, long-term export/import reporting system was authorized
by the council to ensure that Baghdad will not divert civilian items
to the production of the banned weapons.
Iraq has not enacted the national legislation necessary to accept and
allow the U.N.'s long-term monitoring and verification program, UNSCOM
also pointed out.
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