- VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N.
nuclear watchdog agency said Sunday it would tell the U.N. Security Council
it has yet to prove that Iraq is secretly seeking atomic weapons.
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- Monday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief
Mohamed ElBaradei and chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix will report
to the council on progress in their two-month-old hunt for Baghdad's alleged
weapons of mass destruction.
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- "It (ElBaradei's report) won't reveal any prohibited
nuclear arms program," IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told Reuters.
"If we were to find a smoking gun, we wouldn't wait for an update
report. We'd go straight to the Security Council."
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- Fleming said ElBaradei had hoped to report positive progress
on private interviews with Iraqi scientists, but would be unable to do
so given the refusal of the scientists to submit to interviews without
the presence of Iraqi officials.
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- Blix, whose inspectors are checking for any banned chemical,
biological and ballistic weapons, is expected to be more critical than
ElBaradei. Blix will tell the council Baghdad left large gaps in the arms
declaration it supplied on December 7 and is blocking interviews with scientists.
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- ElBaradei and Blix last briefed the council on January
9.
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- Fleming said ElBaradei's report Monday would contain
new information on aluminum tubes imported by Iraq.
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- "It will also address allegations Iraq tried to
import uranium and the issue of high explosives that could be useable in
nuclear weapons," Fleming said.
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- The United States and Britain have accused Iraq of trying
to acquire uranium, saying the aluminum tubes might be used to enrich it.
The IAEA has said the tubes were unsuited to that.
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- "The question of cooperation is a major section
of the report," Fleming said, adding there would be "no surprises."
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- The IAEA has repeatedly said that while Baghdad has been
generally cooperative, it must begin providing inspectors with evidence
that proves Iraq's innocence.
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- U.N. inspectors returned to Iraq late last year after
a four-year hiatus under threat of a U.S.-led military attack.
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