The road to Iraq's disarmament.

• Author: Willmott, Liz
• Position: PeaceWatch

As the UN Chronicle went to press, three months had passed since the Security Council adopted resolution 1441 (2000) on 8 November 2002, authorizing the return of United Nations weapons inspectors to Iraq. On 27 November, the United Nations teams began on-site inspections for the first time in four years, and on 7 December, the Iraqi Government, in compliance with resolution 1441, handed to the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a 12,000-page declaration on the country's weapons programme. The Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC, Hans Blix, and the Director General of IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, regularly briefed the Council on the ongoing inspections.

On 5 February 2003, at an open ministerial-level meeting of the Council, chaired by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of Germany and attended by 12 Foreign Ministers, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell presented what he said was "solid" evidence that showed that Iraq still failed to disarm itself of chemical and biological weapons. In his elaborate multimedia presentation, which included satellite photographs of alleged chemical weapons installations and intercepted telephone conversations, Mr. Powell detailed the apparent evacuation of chemical and biological weapons, indicated Iraqi links to terrorist networks and highlighted the country's record of systematic human rights abuses.

Mr. Powell said Iraq continued to pose a threat to international peace and security by remaining in material breach of its disarmament obligations.

"Indeed, by its failure to seize on its one last opportunity to come clean and disarm, Iraq has put itself in deeper material breach and closer to the day when it will face serious consequences for its continued defiance of this Council", he said. Operative paragraph 4 of resolution 1441 defines a further material breach as false statements or omissions in declarations and failure to cooperate fully in the implementation of the resolution. Underscoring his country's firm stance, Mr. Powell implored the Council "not to shrink from whatever is ahead of us".

Dismissing the charges of the United States, Ambassador Mohammed A. Aldouri of Iraq said the clear goal of the meeting had been to sell the idea of war against his country, without any legal, moral or political justification. Stressing that his country was totally free of weapons of mass destruction, Ambassador Aldouri...