UN Arms Experts Visit 11 Suspected Sites in Iraq

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 16, 2002

UN Arms Experts Visit 11 Suspected Sites in Iraq

UN weapons inspectors on Saturday visited 11 suspected sites in Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

UN weapons inspectors on Saturday visited 11 suspected sites in Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction.

A team of UN arms experts returned to the Centre for Communicable Diseases in downtown Baghdad, where they were unable to enter several locked rooms on Friday, the Islamic day of rest, because the key holder could not be found.

Gen. Hussam Mohammed Amin, Iraq's chief liaison officer with UN inspection mission, was summoned to the hospital around mid-day Friday to solve what appeared to be the first significant incident since the inspections resumed on Nov. 27.

But Amin told reporters after the incident that "the hotline wasused. We came straight away. There is no problem."

An UN official also sought to play down the first hitch in the inspections process, saying "this a newly declared site, and we wanted to clarify the tagging procedure. That's all."

The inspectors sealed the unchecked rooms before they left.

Another team of inspectors Saturday went to the al-Fatah missile research facility in Amiriya, on the western suburbs of Baghdad, according to Iraqi officials and correspondents at the Press Centerof the Information Ministry.

The inspectors also paid a much-repeated visit to the al-Tuwaitha nuclear complex, some 25 km southeast of Baghdad, carrying out their sixth inspection at the same site since they resumed operations in Iraq more than two weeks ago.

The Nasr missile facility, some 55 km north of Baghdad, among others, was also inspected by UN weapons experts.

The day's operation took place as a senior Iraqi official accused the United States and Israel of targeting all Arabs with the pretext of the hunting for banned weapons in Iraq.

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz lashed out at US and Israeli "oppressive aggression", saying "the Imperialism represented by the axis of evil, America and its Zionist ally, is launching an oppressive aggression at the Arabs."

Speaking at the opening of a poetry festival in Baghdad, Aziz said the searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is "justa means of deception."

Iraq has been under sweeping UN sanctions since its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the embargo will not be lifted until the UN has verified that Iraq has eliminated all of its weapons of mass destruction and means of launch them.

There are currently 98 UN inspectors in Iraq and they must give their first report to the UN Security Council about Iraq's weapons programs by Jan. 27.

Questions?Comments? Click here

US Discounts Results of Iraq Weapons Inspections

UN Inspectors Search Saddam's Palace for Banned Weapons

US Seeking Prolonged, Tougher Arms Inspection in Iraq

Top Planner on Main Economic Tasks for 1st 20 Years in New Century ( 16 Messages)

Archaeologists Revise Age of China's Civilization ( 9 Messages)

Chinese Economy to Enjoy Bright Future ( 13 Messages)

Nanjing Marks 65th Anniversary of Japanese Massacre ( 2 Messages)

China Hopes for Constructive US Role in Reunification: Jiang ( 8 Messages)

China Issues White Paper on National Defense ( 20 Messages)