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Tracking Inspections: 19 DECEMBER 2002

A reported 91 inspectors visited 8 sites as a UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) team of missile inspectors met with specialists at the Ibn Firnas State Company north of Baghdad, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry stated. The team inspected the premises of the company, which is affiliated with the Military Industrialization Organization (MIO) and conducts research and development work "on aircraft and remotely piloted vehicles" for the armed forces, according to a UNMOVIC statement.

Another team visited the Al-Harith State Company (MIO-affiliated), located 25 kilometers north of Baghdad in Al-Taji, where they inspected all buildings on the site and met with the general manager, according to the Foreign Ministry. UNMOVIC stated that the site is known as the Al-Harith Missile Maintenance Workshop, which is an antiaircraft missile maintenance facility for the SA-2 (Volga), SA-3 (Pechora), and SA-6 (Kvadrat) missile systems. Inspectors checked 30 buildings in four hours, according to a UNMOVIC statement.

A 22-member chemical-inspections team revisited an insecticide factory in Al-Saqlawiyah in the Al-Anbar Governorate, which is part of the Al-Tariq State Company (MIO-affiliated), taking a sample from a barrel at one of the factory's facilities, the Foreign Ministry reported. This site is better known as Falluja III and is located 100 kilometers west of Baghdad.

An 11-member biological inspections team questioned specialists at the Ibn Al-Bitar Center -- a pharmaceutical-research center located 10 kilometers north of Baghdad at Al-Taji -- on the center's activities and its relations with other research institutions. The team photographed and verified equipment and obtained samples of castor oil, according to the ministry. UNMOVIC stated that Ibn Al-Bitar Center is a previously declared site. Inspectors visited the Veterinary Drug Research Production Center, the Chemical Production and Analysis facility, and the Biological Research and Development Department.

In addition, a team of 11 inspectors visited MIO property in the Sabea Abkar area of Baghdad and "left after ascertaining that it was a guest house," the ministry reported.

After spending a second night in Mosul, a group of 15 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors conducted a radiological survey of the Al-Kindi State Company's premises on 19 December, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced. The company, which is part of the MIO, is located on the outskirts of Mosul. The group returned to Baghdad after inspecting areas of the company that manufacture products for commercial use and taking samples from a water-treatment plant, according to the ministry. UNMOVIC reported that Al-Kindi is a missile- and rocket-development site, which also produces electronic and industrial products for the civil sector. UNMOVIC also reported that it had inspected ("over the last three days") the Jaber bin Hayam site, which produces chemical-protection equipment for the military and "some civilian products." The UN also reported that inspectors in Mosul visited underground facilities, "inspecting two projects associated with electricity generation and irrigation." The sites were described as "deep underground facilities" by UNMOVIC (see inspections report entry for 18 December).

A second IAEA team of three inspectors toured the facilities of the 7 Nisan (April) Company, an MIO affiliate located 20 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. The team inquired about imported machinery at the company and then proceeded to the Al-Rashid State Company (MIO-affiliated), 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, in order to inspect "three marked furnaces as well as marked equipment stored in the warehouses," according to the Foreign Ministry. UNMOVIC reported that it inspected the Nahrawan and Mamoun factories at Al-Rashid. "Nahrawan is a conventional metals machining plant. Mamoun produces propellant for solid fuel missiles and was associated with the previous Iraqi nuclear program," UNMOVIC reported.

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