As new UN arms experts arrive in Iraq, inspectors visit chemical factory

With new United Nations weapons experts arriving in Baghdad, teams from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today continued their operations in Iraq.

An UNMOVIC team carried out an inspection of the Falluja III site – a chemical factory engaged in the production of pesticides, insecticides and rodent poisons – of the Al-Tariq Company, which is located about 100 kilometres west of Baghdad.

The facility also hosts a research and development department which is concerned with “new formulations and synthetic processes for local production of active ingredients,” said Hiro Ueki, a spokesman for UNMOVIC and the IAEA in Baghdad.

The site contains a number of tagged dual-use items of equipment, which were all accounted for, Mr. Ueki said, while all key buildings at the site were inspected. “The objectives of the visit were successfully achieved,” he reported.

The IAEA inspection team went to the State Establishment for Geological Survey and the associated Geo-Pilot plant facilities, which had previously been involved in the “mapping of ore assays and developmental processing of those ores,” the spokesman reported.

The IAEA team conducted its inspections “without delay,” he said.

Meanwhile, an additional 25 inspectors – 21 from the IAEA and 4 from UNMOVIC – arrived in Baghdad today, bringing the total number of inspectors currently in Iraq to 42 – 15 from UNMOVIC and 27 from the IAEA.

Another 25 to 30 inspectors, all from UNMOVIC, are expected to arrive in Baghdad on 10 December.