18 June 1998
IRAQ BARS SOME ISSUES FROM UNSCOM WORK PROGRAM
(UNSCOM chairman reports on Baghdad talks) (950) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- Iraq and the UN Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi weapons (UNSCOM) have agreed on a work schedule for the next two months, but senior Iraqi officials refused to include some priority issues identified by UN weapons inspectors, UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler informed the Security Council June 18. In a written report to the council, Butler said that Iraqi officials refused his request for a special meeting on Baghdad's practice of concealing information from the UN, refused to provide documents they had previously shown to UNSCOM, and refused to include VX nerve gas production on the current work schedule. "Iraq refused to include some of the priority issues which had been identified by the Commission. These included the extent of the VX production, the accounting for proscribed missile propellants, and the clarification of the concealment actions and policies by Iraq," the UNSCOM chairman said. Butler reported that Iraq again declared that the biological weapons program has been obliterated and it would not revise its declarations to the UNSCOM. Biological weapons is the one area on which UNSCOM has the least information. In March a group of international experts concluded that the biological weapons information Iraq has supplied to UNSCOM is incomplete and inadequate and said that it cannot say for certain that Iraq is not continuing work in that field. Butler said that UNSCOM, nevertheless, will continue to investigate the missile propellants and nerve gas issues along with the agreed upon work program. US Ambassador Bill Richardson said Butler's report is "a very strong report that says Iraq has a long way to go" before sanctions can be lifted. Richardson pointed out that Iraq is still concealing information on chemical and biological weapons and that "the task of disarmament is not yet completed." Butler said that between June 15 and August 9 UNSCOM and Iraq will be working on: the verification of the number of warheads destroyed by Iraq without UN oversight; taking additional soil samples and warhead remnants for analysis regarding chemical weapons activity; proceed with accounting of 155mm mustard shells lost during the gulf war; and will expect Iraq to produce documents on R-400 chemical weapons bombs. Also scheduled are a number of meetings between Iraqi and UN weapons experts in all three areas -- missiles, chemical weapons, and biological weapons. Butler reported that during his meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz he raised the issue of Iraq's practice of concealing materials relevant to the weapons programs and its impact on UNSCOM's verification and monitoring. "The commission considers a full investigation of this issue to be fundamental" before it can report to the council with confidence, that all Iraq's banned weapons programs had been destroyed, removed, or rendered harmless, he said. Nevertheless, Tariq Aziz declined to discuss the concealment issues, preferring to focus on the work schedule, Butler said. Butler and a large team of UN weapons inspectors visited Baghdad June 11 to 15 to discuss a 14-point list of what UNSCOM needs from Iraq in the areas of ballistic missiles, chemical weapons and biological weapons. The mission took place a week after UNSCOM gave a two-day presentation to the Security Council on the major outstanding issues and outlined a so-called "road map" on what remains to be done in the weapons area in order for Baghdad to fully comply with the disarmament requirements of the Gulf War cease-fire resolution. "While not accepting the commission's document, the so-called 'road map,' the deputy prime minister allowed the discussion in Baghdad to concentrate on the priority disarmament issues identified by the commission in that document, but disagreed that all of them were issues of disarmament," Butler reported. Butler has said that he did not expect to be able to verify to the council that Iraq had completed the disarmament process by October, but major progress could be made by the end of the year toward lifting sanctions if Iraq cooperated with UNSCOM on the list. UN weapons inspectors need information on warhead material balance, a record of the unilateral destruction of propellants for long-range missiles, monthly production status reports for the major components of Iraq's production of Al-Hussein missiles, verifiable evidence of the disposition of unaccounted munitions, especially 155mm mustard shells and chemical/biological aerial bombs, and information on the use and status of equipment moved from chemical weapons facilities prior to the end of the Gulf War. UNSCOM also wants information on the acquisition and production of biological weapons materials, agents and munitions as well as on the destruction of such material. Butler said the talks were "cordial and professional," reflecting the "new spirit of cooperation between both sides" after Tariq Aziz and Secretary General Kofi Annan signed a memorandum of understanding last February breaking an impasse on UNSCOM inspectors' access to some sites in Iraq, including so-called presidential sites. "I believe that if the government of Iraq provides the full cooperation it undertook to provide in the memorandum of understanding between the United Nations and Iraq, it should be possible for the commission to resolve remaining issues and begin to formulate reports" on the portions of the cease-fire demands relating to the easing of sanctions. Paragraph 22 of resolution 687 passed in 1991 stipulates that economic sanctions cannot be lifted until UNSCOM certifies that all of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their programs and long range missiles and related programs have been accounted for and eliminated. (For more information on this subject, contact our special Iraq website at: http://www.usia.gov/iraq)
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