'Inspectors must return' - Blix

2003-04-17 13:12

Hamburg - Chief United Nations arms inspector, Hans Blix, has called for experts to return to Iraq to check whether Baghdad had a programme to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The work of "specialists recognised by the international community" must resume so that the authenticity of any discovery of these types of arms cannot be put in doubt, Blix has told Der Spiegel magazine in an interview.

Blix is to address the UN security council on April 22 about the possibility of renewing the search for any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to UN sources.

The experts from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMovic) left oil-rich Iraq on March 18, two days before US and British troops invaded the country.

Blix told the Spanish daily El Pais on April 9 that he believed finding banned weapons in Iraq - the pretext for the war - was not the main concern of Washington and London. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA