UN: NEW YORK: UNSCOM SAY IRAQ NO LONGER AN IMMEDIATE MILITARY THREAT

(26 Jun 1997) English/Nat The U-N chief weapons inspector has said that Iraq no longer poses an immediate military threat to the region, but it could resume production of chemical and biological weapons. In an interview with Associated Press Television, Ambassador Rolf Ekeus said his team suspect that some biological warfare agents remain hidden. And the inspectors have found evidence of a systematic and strategic plan by Iraq to use its civilian chemical industry to hide weapons production capability. Ambassador Rolf Ekeus has been at the head of the United Nations Special Commission (U-N-S-C-O-M) on Iraq for the past six years. In an interview with Associated Press Television on Wednesday he said that Iraq's scientists are under orders to continue to work on the country's weapons' stock. Ekeus spoke of a plan by the Iraqi government to use the civilian chemical industry to hide a capacity for chemical weapons' production. SOUNDBITE: (English) "But there are certain capabilities here as you said which are part of the agricultural programme for the production of pesticides for instance. And such reactors can be set aside for a limited time period for a batch production, to produce a batch of prohibited items if you have the right precursors and chemical compounds to put into production. So, we have to watch, for example, the civilian industry where such deal capability exists. But I repeat, these capabilities, which had been part of the weapon programme, they have been destroyed. Our concern is now that certain element or the capability blended into the civilian production can be misused. And for that purpose we monitor Iraq's chemical industry very closely." SUPER CAPTION: Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, U-N Commission on Iraq The commission believes facilities used to manufacture pesticides and other legitimate chemical products could be transformed quickly into chemical weapons factories. On Monday, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz accused the United States of fabricating information, with the collusion of Ekeus. But Ekeus said the claims were untrue. SOUNDBITE: (English): "So, I mean Iraq is completely mistaken the situation and what Iraq is doing, and if this quote is right, is just to try to, they have no response because they know they are hiding, so they have to put some explanation by putting blame on certain individuals." SUPER CAPTION: Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, U-N Commission on Iraq The diplomat, who will soon leave his post, added that despite Iraq's actions, there is no immediate military threat to the region. SOUNDBITE: (English): "However, I feel now, that Iraq does not constitute an immediate threat with its present capabilities because even if some small quantities of chemical weapons are still here, which we suspect, and certain quantities of biological warfare agent may very well be hidden including some delivery systems -- missiles and bombs for such weapons -- we still feel that Iraq could not activate these capabilities without being detected and without the alarm bell going for counteraction." SUPER CAPTION: Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, U-N Commission on Iraq Iraq claims it has fulfilled the conditions set forth by the U-N, but Ekeus and his commission has not granted the certification of compliance. On Saturday, the U-N Security Council threatened to impose new sanctions against Iraq if it does not cooperate with weapons inspectors. Ekeus added that if U-N inspectors were withdrawn for political reasons, Iraq would be able to re-establish some of its banned weapons programmes. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...