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U.N. Arms Official Says ``Grave Problems'' with Iraq

© Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
November 25, 1996, 8:45 AM EST

BAGHDAD (Reuter) - A senior arms official Monday reported the United Nations still faced ``very grave problems'' in its efforts to ensure Iraq is not concealing banned Scud missiles.

Charles Duelfer, deputy chairman of the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM), told reporters before leaving Iraq he had ``very constructive talks'' on U.N. monitoring to ensure Iraq does not again acquire weapons of mass destruction.

But Duelfer said there were other problems between Iraq and UNSCOM, which is overseeing Iraqi disarmament under the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire, particularly Baghdad's refusal to allow the wreckage of scrapped missile engines out of Iraq for analysis.

``There are some very grave problems in other areas and those remain. I have not talked about the problems we have with missile engines which Iraq still refuses to permit to leave the country,'' he said.

He said Iraq's refusal violated its obligations under the cease-fire that ended the Gulf War, when a U.S.-led coalition freed Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.

Baghdad has asked UNSCOM to send experts to study the engines inside Iraq, saying the request for their removal was intended to prolong sanctions imposed for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

UNSCOM chairman Rolf Ekeus, currently on a Gulf tour to raise money for his cash-strapped commission, said in Kuwait on Sunday he feared Iraq was trying to hide operational missile engines by destroying ``useless'' locally-made ones.

``Iraq produced some home-made Scud type engines that were useless but we are afraid they have been mixed into this (1991-92) destruction and high-quality rocket engines were taken out and hidden,'' said Ekeus at the end of a Kuwait visit.

About 60 engines for long-range missiles that Iraq said it destroyed in 1992 are in boxes at UNSCOM headquarters in Baghdad ready for shipment abroad. Another 20-25 engines remain buried at two sites near Baghdad, U.N. officials said.

UNSCOM suspects Iraq may be hiding up to 16 missiles with ranges beyond the 90 miles maximum Baghdad is allowed to possess or manufacture under the cease-fire terms.

Iraq in the past did not object to the removal by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), of its stocks of nuclear fuel.

The United Nations will not lift a ban on Iraqi oil exports until UNSCOM says Iraq no longer has any banned weapons of mass destruction and cannot replace them.

Duelfer arrived in Baghdad Friday and held talks with Oil Minister General Amir Rasheed, former head of the Military Industrialisation Commission and Dhaif Abdulmajeed, current MIC chairman.