Discovery prompted by concerns about radiation readings.
Engines of two Iraqi surface-to-air missiles have turned up at a scrapyard in the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, according to a report by the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
Assigned by the Security Council to probe Íraq's illicit arms programme, UNMOVIC experts have verified that one of the engines came from an Al Samoud 2 missile - proscribed under international sanctions - that had been tagged by UN inspectors in the past.
Radiation
According to the report, the engines were found during a visit to the scrapyard by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called in to investigate 'increased radiation readings'. Subsequently, a team of UNMOVIC experts visited the site and examined one missile engine that had been salvaged from the scrap metal process. "By comparing the serial production number on the engine with information in the UNMOVIC database, the experts were able to confirm that the engine was from an Iraqi SA-2 missile", the report says. Whether there was still cause for concern about radiation levels at the scrapyard, the report does not mention.
Scrap from Iraq
UNMOVIC says the finding demonstrates the difficulty of assessing the scope of Iraq’s clandestine arms programme. “The existence of missile engines originating in Iraq among scrap in Europe may affect the accounting of proscribed engines known to have been in Iraq’s possession in March 2003,” it says.
Representatives of the scrapyard company indicated that a number of similar engines (5 to 12) had been seen in the scrapyard in January and February of this year. More engines could have been processed and passed through the yard unnoticed.
Furthermore, the report also points to evidence that more scraps have been shipped from Iraq. "Company staff confirmed that other items made of stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant metal alloys bearing the inscription 'Iraq' or 'Baghdad' had been observed in shipments delivered from the Middle East since November 2003", UNMOVIC reports.
After examining a number of these items, UNMOVIC experts found that they were composed of inconel and titanium - both “dual-use” materials which could be used either for civilian or military purposes.
No show
Recent satellite imagery indicate that a number of sites in Iraq previously known to have contained equipment or materials subject to international monitoring have been “either cleaned out or destroyed,” according to the report.
UNMOVIC does not know whether the goods there were still present at the time of 'coalition action' in March and April 2003, but it does note that some of the materials may have been removed by looters and sold as scrap.
Sources: UN News Centre, ANP, Reuters, UNMOVIC
UNMOVIC Report (28 May 2004)
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