Nuclear chief wants more time for weapons inspections

The United Nations’ nuclear weapons expert, preparing to give a crucial report to the UN Security Council today, said inspections should continue for months because “we are moving forward”.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the nuclear chief, and Hans Blix, his counterpart, will tell the council that Iraq is developing new missile systems, has imported parts that could be used for a nuclear programme, and still isn’t co-operating 100%, UN officials say.

Their findings, coming as the United States prepares for war with Iraq, could bolster the US case with allies or further divide the security council, badly split over whether the time has come to use force to disarm Saddam Hussein.

British diplomats said it was possible that the United States and Britain could present a proposal by Saturday for a new resolution authorising military action against Iraq.

Both Secretary of State Colin Powell and his British counterpart, Jack Straw, will attend today’s open briefing by the inspectors and speak in the council. Immediately afterwards, they will hold private meetings with the 13 other members of the council.

While the reports by the inspectors are expected to welcome recent Iraqi efforts at co-operation, the moves fall short of the complete and genuine turnaround Blix said he was hoping for when he left for meetings with Iraqi officials last week.

“We’re still in midcourse,” ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Associated Press yesterday on a flight from Vienna to New York. “But we are moving forward, and I see no reason for us to bring the inspection process to a halt.”

ElBaradei also said he did not consider war a foregone conclusion provided “we see some progress on the part of Iraq” in revealing any hidden weapons of mass destruction.

Council diplomats were speculating that Blix’s report would not be as harsh as his January 27 assessment.

Iraq’s UN Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri went to see Blix last night about the report.

“I’m worried,” he said afterwards. “It’s a question of war and peace.”

Washington and London were waiting to hear from the inspectors before deciding when to present a draft resolution, according to diplomats.

The diplomats said there were several different “short and simply-worded” versions of the text, which would find Iraq in “material breach” of its obligations – a definition that the United States and Britain believe would be enough to justify military action.

Still, many council members were voicing support for continued inspections in the absence of irrefutable evidence that Iraq retains weapons of mass destruction. Germany and Russia are backing a French proposal to counter the US push for military action.

The hard lines the two camps have staked out over the past 10 days have embittered debate over Iraq in the security council, at Nato and within the European Union. Diplomats predicted today’s meeting would be highly charged and confrontational, especially between Powell and his French and German counterparts.

Powell told the House International Relations Committee on Wednesday that he intended to ask France and Germany whether they were opposing war with Iraq in order to get Saddam ”off the hook”.

“I hope in the days ahead we will be able to rally the United Nations around the original resolution and what other resolution might be necessary in order to satisfy the political needs of a number of the countries,” Powell said.

But he said the United States wouldn’t be deterred by opposition to using force.

The French plan calls for tripling the number of inspectors to allow for more intrusive and effective inspections. There are currently about 110 inspectors examining Iraq’s chemical, biological and long-range missile programmes, plus an additional nine nuclear inspectors. Additional staff handles analysis and logistics from New York and Vienna.

UN officials said Blix would address the French proposal in his report on the hunt for Baghdad’s biological, chemical and missile programmes.

The chief UN inspector isn’t limited by the number of people he can hire now, while he has said more inspectors could be useful, Blix stressed that “it still remains vital that you have ... good co-operation from the Iraqis on substance”.

In his report, ElBaradei will raise remaining questions about material that could be used to revive Iraq’s nuclear programme.

Concerns identified by ElBaradei yesterday included ”the questions of aluminium tubes, the question of importation of magnets, and the question of importation of carbon fibre” as well as reported imports of uranium.

He suggested his report would not give a definite use for aluminium tubing because “we are still conducting investigations” based on additional information from the Iraqis.

The main area on which Blix is likely to focus will be a new Iraqi missile system which slightly exceeds the 93-mile range set by security council resolutions.

Blix could recommend that UN inspectors destroy the al-Samoud missile system. In that case, a security council diplomat who confirmed the experts’ finding said inspectors would also probably destroy the rocket engines Iraq imported for the missile. But Blix could also recommend the missile system be modified, or undergo more tests.

Last month, Blix reported that despite an arms embargo, Iraq had imported 380 rocket engines for the al-Samoud 2 as well as chemicals used in propellants, test instruments, and guidance and control systems.

During Blix’s visit to Baghdad in January, he said the Iraqis suggested that when they fitted guidance and control systems and other devices to the al-Samoud and al-Fatah they would be weighed down and fly less than the allowed distance.

ElBaradei said he supported increasing the number of inspectors – a move favoured by Germany and France.

“We need a strong, intrusive regime,” he said, in making the case for expanding inspectors past their present strength of 119 – most of them involved in the biological and chemical weapons search.

“We would like to see our inspections beefed up, but that’s no substitute for full and active Iraqi co-operation.”