Blix tells Security Council Iraq is more active

Dr Hans Blix, chief of UNSCOM and head of the inspections in Iraq, told the Security Council this afternoon that Iraq appears to be taking a more active approach to disarmament.

In a 24 minute speech, he said the results of the inspections to date have been consistent with the Iraqi declarations ahead of the inspections.

However, significant qantities of previous arms had not yet been accounted for.

Dr Blix said there was no evidence Iraq knew of any of the inspections in advance, and there had been no problems with access to sites.

In the course of his report, he questioned the US intepretation of satellite photos that Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week showed suspicious activity at an Iraqi weapons site.

He reminded the council that the question of the Al Samoud 2 missiles had been noted in his January briefing.

They had now been proscribed, he said, because their actual range exceeds the planned and permitted range.

He revealed that South Africa offered to advise Iraq on compliance, and the offer had been accepted.

Nuclear update

Dr Mohamed El Baradei, head of the IAEA, told the council his team had found no evidence of an Iraqi resumption of prohibited nuclear development programmes.

They had now been able to have private, unsupervised interviews with Iraqi scientists, he said.

Some evidence is still being assessed, and Iraq has been asked for further information and explanations for dubious material. Some responses had already been received.

It may be impossible to verify conclusively what has happened to 32 tonnes ofhigh explosive HMX, which Iraq removed from locations sealed by inspectors and claims to have used in quarrying, said Dr El Baradei.

He indicated that some at least of the material Iraq was accused of trying to import was assessed as not suitable for nuclear weapons development programmes.

He confirmed that Iraq had told him today of the adoption of anti-WMD legislation. He described that as 'a step in the right direction'.

Council and White House reaction, and other developments