IN VIENNA, EXPERTS CONCLUDE TECHNICAL EVALUATION MEETING ON IRAQ'S BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PROGRAMME
Press Release
IK/248
IN VIENNA, EXPERTS CONCLUDE TECHNICAL EVALUATION MEETING ON IRAQ'S BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PROGRAMME
19980402 (Reissued as received.)VIENNA, 1 April (UN Information Service) -- From 20 to 27 March, an international team of scientists assembled by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) met with Iraqi weapons experts at the Vienna International Centre to conduct an evaluation of the so-titled "Full, Final and Complete Disclosure" (FFCD) of Iraq's proscribed biological weapons programme. The international team consisted of 18 scientists from 15 countries. The Iraqi delegation consisted of 10 weapons experts including the head of the delegation, General A. Al-Sa'adi.
One of Iraq's obligations under Security Council resolutions 687 (1991) and 707 (1991) is to provide a complete disclosure of its weapons of mass destruction programmes. Several iterations of such disclosures have come in the form of the FFCD. The biological FFCD addresses topics ranging from the acquisition of microbial cultures to the production and weaponization of biological agents. Until August of 1995, Iraq did not include information on its offensive biological weapons programme in the FFCD. Since 1995, Iraq has produced further editions of the biological FFCD. In late 1997, Iraq requested that UNSCOM meet with its weapons experts formally to provide a venue in which Iraq could offer clarification or additional information to facilitate a thorough evaluation of the FFCD. In response, the UNSCOM Executive Chairman, Richard Butler, agreed to a series of technical evaluation meetings. The first two meetings were held in Baghdad earlier this year addressing topics relating to Iraq's missile and chemical weapons programmes.
This most recent technical evaluation meeting, chaired by Ake Sellstrom of Sweden, was conducted in a professional, non-confrontational manner. Prior to the beginning of the meeting, an agenda was agreed upon that allowed several areas of concern to be discussed. Upon completion of the meeting on 27 March, the international team of scientists began drafting a consensus evaluation which was finalized today and will be conveyed in the form of a report directly to the UNSCOM Executive Chairman.
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