ACCESSION NUMBER:00000

FILE ID:97121909.txt

DATE:12/19/97

TITLE:19-12-97  UNSCOM STILL SUSPECTS IRAQI SITES USED TO HIDE WEAPONS



TEXT:

(Butler comments on report to Security Council)  (690)

By Judy Aita

USIA United Nations Correspondent



United Nations -- The head of the U.N. Special Commission overseeing

the destruction of Iraqi weapons (UNSCOM) said December 19 that he has

reason to believe that Iraq may be hiding items related to the banned

chemical, biological and ballistic weapons in the presidential sites

that have been declared off-limits to U.N. weapons inspectors.



UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler said at a press conference that "we

finally have evidence or reason to believe that prohibited items have

been or do exist in places that would be in that category called

sovereign or presidential sites."



He refused to elaborate saying that he did not want to compromise his

sources of information.



Butler, who returned from meetings in Baghdad earlier in the week,

told the Security Council the day before (December 18) that Iraq

absolutely refuses to allow U.N. weapons inspectors into what Baghdad

is calling "presidential or sovereign sites" and rejected Butler's

offer to work out special arrangements that would take into account

Iraq's legitimate security and sovereignty concerns about U.N.

inspections in such areas.



Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz also refused to give UNSCOM and

the Security Council a list or map of such sites so that the magnitude

of the exclusive sites could be seen, the UNSCOM chairman said.



Butler told the Council that Iraq's presidential and sovereign sites

are "not clearly defined, except that it was stated that they were

areas associated with the presidency and were well known. They include

sites, offices and resorts at which the head of state resides and/or

works....headquarters of ministers. All had gates and high walls but

no further clarification was offered."



"They would not be allowed to be inspected or overflown under any

circumstances," Butler said.



At the December 19 press conference at the U.N., Butler said that

there are two problems regarding Iraq's position, one is a matter of

principle and international law, the other is the magnitude of the

areas which Iraq is declaring off-limits to the U.N. weapons

inspectors.



When UNSCOM first began its work in Iraq only four or five palaces

used by President Saddam Hussein were involved but now the concept has

expanded to include large areas and other buildings surrounding the

palaces and other ministries, he said.



"We don't know exactly how many sites or buildings," Butler said, but

it appears that Iraq hopes "to put in that category quite a

substantial number of places" out of reach of U.N. inspectors.



UNSCOM has been "by far overwhelmed by order of magnitude of category.

Just how many sites are there?" he asked. The U.N. Security Council

would also need to know the size of the category before it could make

a judgment on whether to accept Iraq's claims that certain areas are

to be off limits, Butler added.



But "far more important" than the size of the restricted areas is the

principle "that Iraq would establish them as sanctuary, as places we

would never go, in the future." Such actions, the UNSCOM chairman

said, are "contrary to the Security Council's resolutions under

chapter seven of the U.N. Charter" and thus under international law.



Butler was also asked about the tour of the so-called presidential

sites that Iraqi officials gave journalists in Baghdad December 19.



The UNSCOM chairman explained that included in the presidential sites

are several well-known palaces used by Saddam Hussein to which the

Iraqi leader frequently invites guests, including foreign leaders.

From the videotape shown on television, UNSCOM feels that the tours

were to those sites.



Butler added that UNSCOM was not informed by Iraqi officials that the

tours were going to take place.



Butler reported that during his December 12-16 meetings in Baghdad

Iraq asked that the U-2 reconnaissance missions flown by the U.S. for

UNSCOM be replaced by Iraqi planes or those of other states and

refused to participate in planning a work program for UNSCOM for

January and February 1998.

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