PRESS BRIEFING BY HEAD OF TECHNICAL TEAM'S MISSION TO IDENTIFY IRAQI PRESIDENTIAL SITES

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY HEAD OF TECHNICAL TEAM'S MISSION TO IDENTIFY IRAQI PRESIDENTIAL SITES

Staffan de Mistura, Head of the Technical Team set up to identify Iraqi presidential sites prior to the Secretary-General's mission, briefed correspondents at Headquarters today on his mission to Baghdad from 15 to 18 February.

[Mr. de Mistura presented his findings to the Secretary-General in Baghdad, and briefed the members of the Security Council this morning.]

He was joined at the briefing by three colleagues who had been part of the technical mission: Gerard Essertel (France), Specialist in Photo Analysis, of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM); Jaakko Ylitalo (Finland), Deputy Director, UNSCOM; and Peter Fodor (Austria), Surveyor/Engineer of the Austrian Bureau of Meteorology and Surveying. An Austrian Surveyor, Wolfgang Eichel, was also part of the team, but was not present at the briefing.

The goal of the mission was to identify the presidential sites and define their exact locations and size, Mr. de Mistura said. Their perimeters were defined, as well as the rather accurate indication of the type, nature and number of buildings and structures contained in each of the presidential sites. Some "non-constructive ambiguity" had previously surrounded the question of the presidential sites and had led to the Secretary-General's decision to send a scientific team to define the sites prior to undertaking his own mission to Baghdad.

Indeed, the team had undisturbed visits to each of the eight presidential sites, he said. The three that were located in Baghdad were the Republican Palace, Radwaniyah and Sijood. Five additional presidential sites spanned the country from Basrah to Mosul. They were Jabal Makhul, Thartar, Tikrit -- the village of the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein -- as well as Mosul and Basrah. The visits were conducted by helicopter, car and foot. Interior visits were also permitted. The team took more than 523 photographs and measured the sites' perimeters by using UNSCOM technology. Two UNSCOM members were members of the technical team, and UNSCOM's database provided the basis for the recent investigation.

He said that the team concluded that the total combined measurement of the sites was 31.5 square kilometres. The largest site measured approximately 17 square kilometres, and the smallest measured 0.1 square kilometres. The eight sites were located in the areas previously named, and they comprised a total of approximately 1,058 structures -- including permanent and non- permanent structures. The Security Council members appeared to be "quite

convinced" that "this part of the problem is no longer ambiguous anymore", he said.

To a series of questions concerning the team's findings, Mr. de Mistura reminded correspondents that although the clock was ticking "very urgently" on the mission, the team was able to visit a large number of buildings. The Iraqi Government had defined the sites and then the team identified and measured them. All the sites were surrounded by high walls "for obvious security reasons" -- except one, Jabal Makhul, which was surrounded by high fences because of the presence of a 500-metre cliff.

Continuing, he said that the Presidential Republican Palace, which was in the centre of Baghdad, had some 33,000 square metres with large rooms for receiving enormous crowds. There were presidential guest houses which were large villas up to 6,000 square metres, presumably intended for Kings and Presidents. There were also smaller guest houses or villas, ancillary buildings for support staff, cabins for the workers and abandoned buildings. Overall, the sites were luxurious and showed off the best of the local artisans. Three of the compounds housed mosques, and there was probably a praying facility in all of them, in view of the local traditions and the expectations of the guests. Quite a few were "post-war" buildings, because some three or four were destroyed during the Persian Gulf War and the Iraqi authorities had them rebuilt.

A correspondent asked if the buildings -- such as offices, ministries, warehouses and parking garages -- included in UNSCOM's original list, particularly in Baghdad, were still included in the new smaller measurement. Mr. de Mistura said, "very much so" -- everything on the original UNSCOM list was on his list, and more. The structures included garages, warehouses, office buildings, government buildings, guest houses, even military barracks, as in the Presidential Palace.

Asked how he explained the discrepancy between his findings and those of UNSCOM, he said that the highly technical approach of his team was coupled with direct access to the sites. His calculations were not solely based on aerial photography or on an incidental approach, given that their negotiations had produced direct access to the actual walls. But, the work of the team was based on UNSCOM maps and UNSCOM data. The UNSCOM had participated in the mission and supported it.

Another correspondent asked whether the United States believed the team's findings, given its request yesterday for clarification. Mr. de Mistura said that there was a substantial opportunity today to provide clarification through maps, details and highly visible perimeter calculations. He had the impression that the Permanent Representative of the United States, Bill Richardson, had found that information very useful.

Technical Team Briefing - 3 - 25 February 1998

Asked if he saw any evidence of chemical or biological weapons on any of the tours, he reminded correspondents that his mission was to map and define the nature of the buildings. In doing so, he saw nothing that warranted his "particular worrisome attention" in terms of the size or the shape of the buildings. The technology was intended for mapping purposes and did not detect the presence of biological matters, although "there were a lot of biological chickens there" on the farms, which caught the team's attention.

Given that the mission was of a mapping nature, was the team asked by the Secretary-General or the Security Council to "be on the lookout for chemical and biological weapons"? another correspondent asked. "No, we were not", he said. His was a mapping survey mission that had many implications, but those were "more political than chemical".

In a follow-up question about what were the political implications of the mapping surveys and how those maps were going to be used, he said that they were already being used. The Secretary-General had requested the identification of the presidential sites prior to his visit to Baghdad, in order to provide a clear basis for a discussion about access to those sites. Those eight sites were part of the agreement with Iraq, which very specifically referred to their number and location.

Apparently given the hospitality and access to the sites, "the Iraqis were waiting for you", another correspondent noted. Mr. de Mistura said that given his three-hour notice to undertake the trip, he was not sure the Iraqis were waiting for them. The mission took place quite urgently and was linked to the current crisis. The presidential sites were visited in order to do the mapping and because they had become an issue in terms of access. Now it was up to UNSCOM and the Secretary-General to decide how to follow-up on that mission. "And, I think they are doing it very quickly", he added.

Asked about the possibility of underground secret rooms in some of those sites, he said that his two UNSCOM colleagues had an "eagle eye" on any unusual buildings, and had inquired about the presence of the many air vents in several buildings. Those could have led to basements requiring ventilation, but in each case, they discovered a charming open fire at the end of the vents.

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