hans blix warned johnny, page-7

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UNITED NATIONS

February 18, 2003

Ê

The ongoing debate on how to proceed on disarming Iraq continued this afternoon, as the Security Council, in a follow-up to last week's briefing by the United Nations chief weapons inspectors, convened an open meeting to hear from non-Council members, and heard a broad majority of the 27 speakers support strengthened inspections and oppose the use of military force.

On Friday, the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), Hans Blix, and the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, had reported that Iraq's cooperation on procedural matters had recently improved and they had not found any weapons of mass destruction.Ê They pointed out, however, that many banned weapons remained unaccounted for and could only be resolved through Iraq's 'immediate, unconditional and active' cooperation.