Tracking Inspections: 28 NOVEMBER 2002
A UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) team of 12 inspectors visited the Al-Dawra Foot and Mouth Disease Institute, which produces vaccine for the disease for Iraq and neighboring countries, according to a statement by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. The ministry noted that UNSCOM inspectors had "destroyed the basic parts of the institute's production lines in 1996, which led to a total halt of production at the site." Inspectors checked buildings and equipment at the site and took water samples. Some members of the inspection team went to the Veterinary Medicine Factory at Al-Taji to see if equipment from the Foot and Mouth Disease Institute had been transferred there. The ministry added that the searched-for equipment was not subject to monitoring. UNMOVIC noted that "The site was declared by Iraq as being used for the production of biological weapons agents starting in 1990. Equipment declared to have been in the biological weapons program was destroyed under inspectors' supervision in 1996. However significant dual-use production equipment remains." UNMOVIC stated that a number of samples were taken from the site.
An IAEA team of nine inspectors visited the Dhu Al-Faqar Factory and Al-Nasr Company at Al-Taji, where they inspected a factory destroyed by coalition forces in 1998. They also checked equipment and machine seals, as well as "old and damaged" aluminum pipes at the site, according to the ministry.
Copyright (c) 2003. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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