UN: No proof has emerged yet that Iraq has developed a nuclear programme since the previous inspection regime ended in 1998, chief nuclear inspector Mr Mohamed El Baradei said in an interview yesterday.
Mr El Baradei's preliminary assessment will be included in a report today to the UN Security Council about Iraq's December 8th declaration that it had abandoned its programmes for weapons of mass destruction, Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper said.
Until now there was "no proof concerning the development of a nuclear programme in Iraq since 1998", Mr El Baradei, who heads the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the government newspaper.
"There is no sign of change in [the Iraqi\] facilities since 1998," when the previous inspection mission withdrew ahead of US and British airstrikes, Mr El Baradei was quoted as saying.
"The inspections are currently in a preliminary stage and we are in contact with several countries which must provide us with information on the Iraqi nuclear programme," he added. On December 8th, Iraq handed the new inspection mission an 11,807-page dossier, which Baghdad says confirms it has no weapons of mass destruction, in line with UN Security Council resolution 1441.
While the IAEA focuses on nuclear weapons, UNMOVIC, headed by Dr Hans Blix, specialises in searching for biological and chemical weapons as well as long-range ballistic missiles, banned under UN resolutions ending the 1991 Gulf War to liberate Kuwait.
The main part of the Iraqi declaration covers Iraq's chemical and biological weapons activities and ballistic missiles with a range exceeding 150km. It runs to 10,000 printed pages, including 500 pages in Arabic. - (AFP)