UN/IRAQ: United Nations arms inspectors have discovered an Iraqi missile which appears to be in breach of UN restrictions imposed at the end of the Gulf War.
Missile experts called in by the inspectors have concluded that the Al Samoud 2 missile has a longer operational range than is permissible under UN resolutions and the missile's engines should probably be destroyed, according to diplomats. The development may provide new fuel to the US campaign to convince the 15-nation Security Council that Iraq is in violation of council resolutions requiring Iraq to disarm, the diplomats added.
Earlier yesterday, inspectors went to a site north of the Iraqi capital to destroy artillery shells and plastic containers filled with mustard gas. "The inspectors went to Al-Muthanna for the process of destroying them. I cannot yet confirm if the actual destruction process has started, because they might still be preparing for it," said the spokesman for the inspectors, Mr Hiro Ueki. "Journalists were not allowed into the site for safety reasons," he added.
Reporters have usually not been allowed into military sites during the UN arms inspections in Iraq. Journalists who followed the inspectors from the UN headquarters in Baghdad to the military facility were stopped at the gate by two Iraqi armed guards, an AFP photographer said. The inspectors were seen going up a long road inside the military facility before disappearing from sight.
Mr Ueki said on Tuesday that UN experts would begin destroying four plastic containers filled with mustard gas and 10 155-mm artillery shells. The operation could last "four to five days".
He said the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) would "work with an Iraqi team in the destruction process". The containers and the artillery shells had been registered by previous UN disarmament inspectors and were recently found north of Baghdad, he said.
The containers of mustard gas and the artillery shells had been scheduled to be destroyed by UNMOVIC's predecessor, the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in 1998, Mr Ueki said.
The UN disarmament process at the time was halted after Iraq was accused of failing to co-operate and came under a wave of massive US-British air strikes in late December.
Mr Ueki said: "UNMOVIC ascertained on 4th December, 2002, that these [artillery\] shells were still stored at Al-Muthanna."
The Iraqi foreign ministry said on Tuesday that UN experts had inspected the site "to prepare the place for the destruction of shells and technical issues related to the destruction process". It did not mention the containers filled with mustard gas.
Under intense pressure from chief inspectors, Iraq last week allowed its scientists to be questioned without the presence of an Iraqi minder. The chief arms inspectors, Dr Hans Blix and Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, report tomorrow to the UN Security Council. A critical report could quicken a countdown to a US-led invasion to disarm Iraq. Baghdad says it is co-operating fully with the inspectors and insists it has no banned weapons. -