UNSCOMS AND IAEAS DISARMAMENT OF IRAQ WEA PONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION - THE HANDLING OF A BROKEN AGREEMENT

May 1997 marks six years since the end of the Gulf War under terms man dated by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 (1991). Th e extensive conditions imposed on Iraq in this <<Mother of all Resolut ions>> were compared with the Versailles Agreement after World War I. The Resolution specifies three categories of demands: unilateral disar mament, compensation for damage inflicted during the occupation and wa r, and acceptance of the 1963 Iraq-Kuwait border. Since May 1991 the U nited Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have identified extensive Iraqi programmes to pr oduce weapons of mass destruction. Through careful elimination of weap ons inventories and destruction of associated infrastructure, these ca pabilities have been neutralised. UNSCOM and IAEA have established an ongoing monitoring and verification process, operating from the Baghda d Monitoring and Verification Centre. Using a collectivity of methods, the Centre will ensure Iraq's continued compliance with Security Coun cil directives.