UN arms inspectors are gathering in Cyprus in preparation for their journey to Iraq where they will search for weapons of mass destruction allegedly held by Saddam Hussein.
Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix touched down at the main airport in Cyprus this afternoon and said "We're on our way to a new chapter of inspections in Iraq."
Blix, a 74-year-old Swede, arrived at Larnaca airport with Mohamed El Baradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Blix said the team of 30 inspectors who are to travel to Baghdad tomorrow would devote themselves first to working out logistics.
"There's a lot to organise," he said. "There are laboratories (to set up), a large number of jeeps, helicopters and a plane to be sorted out."
He said formal inspections start on November 27, and he expects to have 100 inspectors drawn from more than 40 countries in Iraq by the end of the year.
Nothing will be regarded as off-limits including mosques and Saddam's palaces. Soil, water and air samples will be tested.
When asked how sure he would be that Iraq was not concealing weapons, El Baradei said: "We do not take 'no' for an answer. We have to verify a 'no' is actually a 'no'."
"This is an opportunity for peace. I hope Iraq will make full use of it. It's an opportunity for Iraq if fully cooperative ...to come back to be fully members of the international community and to eventually eliminate sanctions."
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said that while Iraq was ready to comply fully, the results would expose as lies U.S. charges that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
Aziz warned that if the United States and Britain "wage a war against Iraq, consequences will be very bad to them and their friends in the region". "We will provide immediate access. We have given instructions to all responsible people and many government areas to respond immediately to any request to enter their sites and inspect them," Aziz told London Weekend Television's Jonathan Dimbleby programme on Sunday.
Aziz said inspectors should not think they could just barge into sites: "When you go to a site, the site has a gate. The gate has to be opened and that who opens the gate should know who is coming. This is common sense."
Blix warned even a 30-minute delay in granting access to a suspect site would be regarded as a serious violation.
The first significant test is a December 8 deadline for Iraq to submit a full account of all its banned weapons programmes. By January 27 next year, the inspectors must have given their first report to the U.N. Security Council.