Tracking Inspections: 3 January 2003
A total of 44 inspectors visited three sites on 3 January. A team of six inspectors returned to the Al-Nahrawan site belonging to the Al-Basil State Company (see inspection report for 22 December), where they toured production rooms. They also toured the management building but did not enter any rooms because it was a holiday and the rooms were locked, according to the Foreign Ministry. The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) stated that Al-Nahrawan produces several chemicals, including sodium carbonates.
A team of 25 missile inspectors returned to the Al-Mamoun Factory, which belongs to the Al-Rashid State Company (and it belongs to the Military Industrial Organization). The site was previously visited on 31 December 2002. Inspectors split into six groups that "inspected all facilities," checked equipment, and tagged 21 containers used for mixing fuel and two mixers. UNMOVIC elaborated that, "The team tagged several declared [pieces of] equipment, which Iraq had manufactured between 1998 and 2002." A joint inspection team of 13 traveled to the desert area of Al-Mohmadiat, 170 kilometers south of Baghdad. Inspectors formed two groups and toured the area on foot, collecting metal and glass samples, the ministry stated, adding that the area was used for "experiments" before 1991. UNMOVIC said the site is 200 kilometers west of Baghdad, stating that it is a "former ammunitions depot used as a chemical weapons storage facility prior to the [1991] Gulf War and an adjacent area used in the 1980s for chemical weapons munitions tests."
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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