19 December 1997
UNSCOM STILL SUSPECTS IRAQI SITES USED TO HIDE WEAPONS
(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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