United Nations, Nov 16: The Chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, said today that he expected his team to carry out its first inspection in Iraq on November 27.
"We expect that the first inspections will take place on November 27," Blix told a news conference, adding that the United Nations Security Council would not tolerate any "cat-and-mouse games" by the Iraqi authorities.
Blix was scheduled to leave New York later today for Paris and to go from there to Cyprus before flying to Baghdad on Monday.

Blix said the most important date in the calendar was December 8, when Iraq is obliged to make a full declaration of its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programmes.

"Iraq's declaration is a very important document and we hope they take it seriously," he said, adding that it would need "a lot of work to analyse" it.



In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday, the Iraqi government denied that it possessed any weapons of mass destruction.



The letter, signed by Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, said Iraq would welcome the inspectors so as to expose "the fabrications of the liars" in the US and British governments.



But Blix said he did not rule out the possibility that Iraq would admit to having weapons of mass destruction.



Resolution 1441, adopted unanimously by the security council one week ago, warned Iraq of "serious consequences" if its declarations contained falsehoods or omissions.


Bureau Report