An UNMOVIC team visited the Al Fatah factory of the Al Karama State Company. This site is located in the northwest outskirts of Baghdad. The factory is a new site, which commenced operations in 1999 and was included in the Iraqi declaration of 1 October 2002. Further construction is continuing. The site is concerned principally with the manufacture of mechanical parts for the guidance and control system of the Al Samood ballistic missile, as well as parts of the engine and airframe. The factory also manufactures components for the control system of the T72 tank and for the shoulder-launched Saddam's Arrow surface-to-air missile. All key buildings at the site were inspected and the objectives of the visit were successfully achieved.
Another UNMOVIC team visited the Al Razi Research Center in Al America, 25 km west of Baghdad. The site produces small amounts of diagnostic reagents for a limited number of human and animal diseases. It is a previously declared and monitored site. The site has a few new buildings that were constructed in 1999. A full detailed inspection of all buildings was carried out to verify the declaration contents, material, equipment and activities. The team completed the objectives of the inspection.
IAEA continued simultaneous inspections in several parts of Iraq today.
At Tuwaitha, a team completed inventorying nuclear materials left over from Iraq's previous nuclear programme.
The team on the western border of Iraq has finished inspections of Iraq's capability to extract uranium from phosphates at Al Qaim. The uranium extraction plant was destroyed in 1991 and the site has been under IAEA monitoring ever since.
Another team went to the Ibn Sina Company some 40 km north of Baghdad. This site was formerly known as Tarmiya and was the site of a uranium enrichment plant that was destroyed in 1991. The team inspected the new activities at the site and verified that no nuclear activities remain or have been initiated. Dual-use industrial activities at the site were inspected to verify that they could not contribute directly to a nuclear programme. The Amil liquid nitrogen plant, subordinate to Ibn Sina and about 10 km away, was inspected during this activity.
Inspections were made at two locations some 120km to the west of Baghdad, known as Saddam GE and Amir Factory, which is an adjacent facility belonging to Saddam GE. The function of these facilities is support to the military in the field of armaments. The inspection of these facilities was made in order to review the activities at these sites since 1998 and to review the disposition and use of dual-purpose machine tools and equipment formerly known to the IAEA.
Hiro Ueki
Spokesman for UNMOVIC and the IAEA in Baghdad