ACCESSION NUMBER:00000

FILE ID:96041701.NNE

DATE:04/17/96

TITLE:17-04-96  UNSCOM BELIEVES IRAQ STILL WITHHOLDING WEAPONS DATA



TEXT:

(Semi-annual report to Security Council) (1060)

By Judy Aita

USIA United Nations Correspondent



United Nations -- Despite Iraq's cooperation with the U.N., the

Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi weapons

(UNSCOM) still has "serious concerns" that not all prohibited

chemical, biological and ballistic weapons have been accounted for and

disposed of, according to an UNSCOM report to the Security Council.



The written report from UNSCOM Chairman Ambassador Rolf Ekeus said

that "there are still significant deficiencies and gaps in Iraq's

disclosures on chemical and biological weapons, proscribed ballistic

missiles and related capabilities. The commission has noted recent

acquisitions of prohibited items by Iraq. This means that the

commission has serious concerns that a full accounting and disposal of

Iraq's holdings of prohibited items has not been made."



In the report, which was released April 16, Ekeus told the Security

Council that even though Iraq has turned over an enormous amount of

significant data to UNSCOM in the past months, the commission "is

convinced that more documents remain in Iraq."



Nevertheless, Ekeus said that even with Iraqi cooperation on

clarifying outstanding issues, "progress cannot be achieved without

thorough inspection activities by the commission." Especially

disturbing has been the series of Iraqi attempts to stop U.N. weapons

inspectors from entering installations to search for material related

to the production of chemical, biological and ballistic weapons banned

by the Gulf War cease-fire agreement.



Iraq's interference in the on-site inspections only fuels beliefs that

Baghdad is "still hiding items of significance," the report said.



"In all areas ... Iraq has yet to provide sufficient evidence that it

does not still possess proscribed weapons or materials related to

them," the report said.



Ekeus said there are qualitative gaps in UNSCOM's knowledge of the

weapons programs in Iraq, specifically in the biological weapons

program and biological weapon agents which were loaded into actual

armaments, the whereabouts of which are still unclear.



UNSCOM is also uncertain about the precursors for a chemical warfare

agent which was also prepared for weaponization. There are gaps in

UNSCOM's knowledge of a development program for missiles with ranges

of 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers, which could be of significant military

concern to Iraq's neighbors and others in the region, the report said.



Documents obtained in August 1995 showed that Iraq's chemical weapons

program was more developed and wider in scope than had been previously

admitted and that Iraq had used chemical weapons facilities to support

other weapons programs, the report pointed out.



UNSCOM still wants information on the level of expertise reached in

research and development activities on chemical weapons agents,

large-scale production, and delivery systems as well as on precursor

production capability and dual-use equipment. The commission also is

seeking more data on Iraq's work with the highly toxic V class

chemical warfare agents.



"At the beginning of 1989 Iraq had in its possession the necessary

quantities of precursors for the large-scale production of (chemical

warfare agent) VX. Those precursors were stated by Iraq to have been

unilaterally destroyed but until Iraq produces more evidence to

substantiate this destruction, the commission cannot be fully

confident that VX production capabilities, stocks of precursors, and

appropriate munitions do not remain in Iraq," the report said.



The report also said that in March a team of UNSCOM inspectors

excavated buildings at the Al Muthanna facility in search of chemical

weapons documents. It unearthed some 5,000 pages of books, memoranda,

booklets, letters and organization papers; approximately 100 computer

discs, catalogues and journals; and 80 munitions and components

including 122 mm chemical warheads and 155 mm binary artillery shells.

UNSCOM is now analyzing the material.



"The figures for chemical weapons precursors, agents and munitions

produced, procured and destroyed have been changed and dates of

activities shifted" in Iraq's latest submission to UNSCOM and no

supporting documents were included, the report said. "... The strong

presumption must be that the changes have been made on the basis of

information which Iraq has not yet disclosed to the Commission."



The gaps, though relatively small in comparison to the enormous amount

of information the U.N. has on Iraq's banned weapons programs, are

important in terms of the key elements they hold for verifying that

the U.N. has the complete scope of the weapons programs, Ekeus said.



Diplomats said that Ekeus told the Security Council he is anxious to

get all the necessary information and will have some proposals to make

to the Iraqi government on how the outstanding issues might be settled

in the coming months.



Some of UNSCOM's concerns come from trying to verify Iraq's claims

that in 1991 "it secretly destroyed large quantities of these

prohibited weapons and materials instead of declaring and handing them

over for the commission's verification," the report said. Such

destruction would have been "in flagrant violation" of its obligations

under resolution 687.



"In the absence of documents or actual evidence that biological and

chemical weapons and missiles and launchers were actually destroyed,

the commission continues to encounter great difficulties" in

establishing a balance between what Iraq has claimed was destroyed and

the evidence of how much supplies and material there was according to

documents found in Iraq or supplied to UNSCOM from outside suppliers.



The report also said that states can help speed up the verification

process by providing any information they may still have concerning

training or sales that could have been used by Iraq in the now-banned

weapons programs.



UNSCOM also remains concerned about Iraq's procurement from abroad of

prohibited and so-called "dual-use items" that can be diverted from

other normal industrial uses to weapons production.



The commission pointed out "the elaborate system for the acquisition

of components and machine tools for Iraq's missile production efforts"

is a main example of why a firm on-going monitoring and verification

system and an early implementation of the export/import reporting

system adopted by the Security Council in late March are needed.



The mandatory, long-term export/import reporting system was authorized

by the council to ensure that Baghdad will not divert civilian items

to the production of the banned weapons.



Iraq has not enacted the national legislation necessary to accept and

allow the U.N.'s long-term monitoring and verification program, UNSCOM

also pointed out.

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