UN inspectors found Iraq's nuclear programme in disarray and unlikely to be able to support an active effort to build atomic weapons, the UN's nuclear agency chief says in a report.
Reiterating that his experts uncovered no evidence of such a programme, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mr Mohamed ElBaradei said in the confidential report, obtained today by the Associated Press, that there was "no evidence that Iraq had resumed such activities."
Mr ElBaradei stressed that his teams had to withdraw ahead of the US-led war before they could complete their inspections. But he said what they saw in the months preceding their pullout suggested the Iraqis were in no position to build a nuclear weapon.
"The agency observed a substantial degradation in facilities, financial resources and programmes throughout Iraq that might support a nuclear infrastructure," Mr ElBaradei said in the update to the IAEA's 35 nation board of governors, who are meeting at the agency's Vienna headquarters this week.
"The former cadre of nuclear experts was being increasingly dispersed and many key figures were reaching retirement or had left the country," Mr ElBaradei said.
The board was scheduled to review the situation in Iraq later in the week. The IAEA is awaiting a UN Security Council review that could lead to an eventual return of its inspectors to Iraq.
AP