MEP hands Blix dossier on sites linked to weapons development

Date: 06/02/03

A DOSSIER handed to chief UN inspector Hans Blix this week by MEP Emma Nicholson contained details of sites in Iraq where weapons development may be taking place. His team had not visited the sites in question.

The British deputy, who has travelled to Iraq several times and has an extensive network of contacts there, told European Voice her information was largely based on tip-offs from Iraqi scientists critical of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Nicholson said she handed over the dossier on condition that Blix would not expose her sources. The dossier contained details of orders for engineering parts, along with hand-written notes indicating that these could have military uses.

"This [dossier] is likely to be a small piece of a major jigsaw puzzle that Mr Blix and his inspectorate are currently piecing together," Nicholson told this newspaper after meeting Blix at the UN Security Council headquarters in New York on Monday.

A spokesman for Blix said the information presented would be carefully analysed and that names of Iraqi scientists willing to speak to the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission team would not be disclosed.

Although Nicholson was taking part in an official visit of a European Parliament delegation to the UN headquarters, the Liberal MEP stressed that she handed Blix the documentation in a personal capacity.

She described her sources as "credible".

The nine-member delegation was led by German Christian Democrat Elmar Brok, chairman of the Parliament's foreign affairs committee. As well as Blix, it met Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general. Baroness Nicholson had previously supplied information to the United Nations Special Commission for Iraq - the precursor of Blix's team - with details of the suspected use of mustard gas against Marsh Arabs in the 1990s. This triggered an investigation in the country's south.

The Liberal MEP has a reputation for travelling in the world's trouble spots. Last year, she infiltrated an Afghan refugee camp in disguise and berated a heavily armed Taliban guard over the regime's treatment of women.

Born with a severe hearing impediment, her motto is: "Never show fear."

Following her New York visit, Nicholson flew to Iran to assess preparations being made for a probable major influx of refugees should a military strike against neighbouring Iraq take place. It is said that up to one million Iraqis could flee across the border in such an event.

• The European Parliament's political group leaders are due to hold talks tomorrow (7 February) about whether to send an official delegation to Baghdad in a bid to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

A dossier has been handed to chief UN inspector Hans Blix by MEP Emma Nicholson which contained details of sites in Iraq where weapons development may be taking place. His team had not visited the sites in question.