ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:97121909.txt
DATE:12/19/97
TITLE:19-12-97 UNSCOM STILL SUSPECTS IRAQI SITES USED TO HIDE WEAPONS
TEXT:
(Butler comments on report to Security Council) (690)
By Judy Aita
USIA United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The head of the U.N. Special Commission overseeing
the destruction of Iraqi weapons (UNSCOM) said December 19 that he has
reason to believe that Iraq may be hiding items related to the banned
chemical, biological and ballistic weapons in the presidential sites
that have been declared off-limits to U.N. weapons inspectors.
UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler said at a press conference that "we
finally have evidence or reason to believe that prohibited items have
been or do exist in places that would be in that category called
sovereign or presidential sites."
He refused to elaborate saying that he did not want to compromise his
sources of information.
Butler, who returned from meetings in Baghdad earlier in the week,
told the Security Council the day before (December 18) that Iraq
absolutely refuses to allow U.N. weapons inspectors into what Baghdad
is calling "presidential or sovereign sites" and rejected Butler's
offer to work out special arrangements that would take into account
Iraq's legitimate security and sovereignty concerns about U.N.
inspections in such areas.
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz also refused to give UNSCOM and
the Security Council a list or map of such sites so that the magnitude
of the exclusive sites could be seen, the UNSCOM chairman said.
Butler told the Council that Iraq's presidential and sovereign sites
are "not clearly defined, except that it was stated that they were
areas associated with the presidency and were well known. They include
sites, offices and resorts at which the head of state resides and/or
works....headquarters of ministers. All had gates and high walls but
no further clarification was offered."
"They would not be allowed to be inspected or overflown under any
circumstances," Butler said.
At the December 19 press conference at the U.N., Butler said that
there are two problems regarding Iraq's position, one is a matter of
principle and international law, the other is the magnitude of the
areas which Iraq is declaring off-limits to the U.N. weapons
inspectors.
When UNSCOM first began its work in Iraq only four or five palaces
used by President Saddam Hussein were involved but now the concept has
expanded to include large areas and other buildings surrounding the
palaces and other ministries, he said.
"We don't know exactly how many sites or buildings," Butler said, but
it appears that Iraq hopes "to put in that category quite a
substantial number of places" out of reach of U.N. inspectors.
UNSCOM has been "by far overwhelmed by order of magnitude of category.
Just how many sites are there?" he asked. The U.N. Security Council
would also need to know the size of the category before it could make
a judgment on whether to accept Iraq's claims that certain areas are
to be off limits, Butler added.
But "far more important" than the size of the restricted areas is the
principle "that Iraq would establish them as sanctuary, as places we
would never go, in the future." Such actions, the UNSCOM chairman
said, are "contrary to the Security Council's resolutions under
chapter seven of the U.N. Charter" and thus under international law.
Butler was also asked about the tour of the so-called presidential
sites that Iraqi officials gave journalists in Baghdad December 19.
The UNSCOM chairman explained that included in the presidential sites
are several well-known palaces used by Saddam Hussein to which the
Iraqi leader frequently invites guests, including foreign leaders.
From the videotape shown on television, UNSCOM feels that the tours
were to those sites.
Butler added that UNSCOM was not informed by Iraqi officials that the
tours were going to take place.
Butler reported that during his December 12-16 meetings in Baghdad
Iraq asked that the U-2 reconnaissance missions flown by the U.S. for
UNSCOM be replaced by Iraqi planes or those of other states and
refused to participate in planning a work program for UNSCOM for
January and February 1998.
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