Search the Internet          Tips

Take inspections seriously and disarm: Blix to Iraq

Cautioning Iraq against playing a cat-and-mouse game with weapons inspectors, Chief Inspector Hans Blix, also the executive chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, has said there would be war or peace depending on Iraq's level of cooperation during the investigations that begin on November 27.

The UN Security Council is giving Iraq a 'last chance' for searching its archives, storage facilities, and stocks before making a full declaration of its weapons of mass destruction and related materials on December 8, he said.

"What will they declare? How open are they? How much transparency will there be?" he asked. The inspectors would report the 'factual position' and it would be for the council to decide whether Iraq was in 'material breach'. "I think it is in the Iraqi interest, too, that there are effective inspections. Otherwise, they would not be credible. This is how I see the Security Council's instructions," he said.

"Iraq's declaration is a very important document and we hope they take it seriously," he said.

The inspectors are going to Iraq after its acceptance of a tough Security Council resolution amidst threats by the United States that it would have 'zero tolerance' for any obstruction of inspectors and for Baghdad making any false declaration about its weapons.

In case of documents and other materials that can be quickly moved, even a short delay may constitute an obstruction, Blix said. That might, however, not be the case with factories.

A group of inspectors will gather in Cyprus over the weekend on their way to Baghdad. In Cyprus they will be joined by a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Blix told reporters. The chief inspector said he would be accompanied by Mohamed El Baradei, executive director of the IAEA, for the trip to Baghdad.

The inspectors have sent in their request to Iraq for a meeting with government representatives. A team of logistics officers will stay behind in Iraq once the initial contact with the government is made, he added.

The commission has 60 days to report to the council. But it can report earlier if there is any obstruction, Blix said.

Iraq's declaration would be compared with the information from earlier inspections and if there are suspicions, the verification process would be stepped up.

Tell us what you think of this report