UN Arms Inspectors Resume Regular Interview of Iraqi Scientists

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 25, 2002

UN Arms Inspectors Resume Regular Interview of Iraqi Scientists

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UN arms inspectors on Tuesday resumed their "regular interview" of Iraqi scientists after a four-year suspension while inspecting at least 11 sites suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction.

The UN experts "requested an interview with a particular Iraqi scientist, conducted separately from the rest of the inspection" inthe Baghdad Technical University, the UN team's spokesman Hiro Uekisaid in a statement.

"This represents resumption of a regular interview programme that was interrupted in 1998," he said, adding "the interview was conducted in a private office chosen at random, without cameras, orrecordings being present."

Local television identified the Iraqi scientist as Sabah Abdel Nour, a graduate from a British university in 1973 and a former member of Iraq's nuclear program.

"I explained to them all that I know and that we do not have anything to hide," Nour, now an assistant professor in the Baghdad Technical University, told reporters.

The Iraqi scientist said he refused to be questioned in private and asked to have Iraqi officials from the National Monitoring Directorate present during the interview.

"The discussion was very friendly and the questions were mainly about what has been done or any progress which has been achieved inIraq since 1998," Nour said.

Also on Tuesday, missile experts from the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) inspected a total of five Iraqi sites suspected of engaging in prohibited missile development.

One UNMOVIC missile team went to the Al Nidaa Factory in south Baghdad, which "makes mechanical parts and equipment for different types of missiles," Ueki said in the statement.

Another missile team inspected the Abdul Kareem Abass Plant, some 60 km south of Baghdad.

"This is a site newly declared in the Oct. 1 Iraqi declaration and the only plant in Iraq which manufactures ammonium perchlorate,the primary ingredient used in the production of solid propellant."Ueki said.

A third missile team went to three different sites, all of them belong to the Taji Technical Battalion. The UN experts "checked andapplied identification tags to Al-Samoud missiles and warheads" at the three sites.

The UN arms experts on Tuesday also visited a veterinary college, a brewery, a conventional ammunitions plant, and an electronics factory.

Meanwhile, some UNMOVIC chemical experts went to search the oil facilities in the Basra region, about 400 km south of Baghdad.

Currently there are 104 inspectors in Iraq, 98 of whom are from the UNMOVIC and six from the IAEA.

They must give their first report to the UN Security Council about Iraq's weapons programs by a Jan. 27 deadline.

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