IRAQ CRISIS: Weekly round-up Number 83 for 9-15 October

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Key Humanitarian Developments

This week the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voiced concern over the disappearance of materials in Iraq which could be used to make nuclear weapons and called on countries to provide information concerning their whereabouts.

"The IAEA continues to be concerned about the widespread and apparently systematic dismantlement that has taken place at sites previously relevant to Iraq's nuclear programme and sites previously subject to ongoing monitoring and verification by the Agency," Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA Director-General said, according to a UN statement issued on Tuesday.

ElBaradei wrote a letter to the Security Council in which he said that entire buildings monitored and tagged by the IAEA had been dismantled and that equipment and materials in open storage areas had been removed.

The UN atomic watchdog had been reporting every six months on the progress of weapons inspections in Iraq since 1991, but was forced to pull out of the country on the eve of the war which started in March 2003. It has since been analysing information already collected.

However, in August, the IAEA completed a separate, physical inspection of nuclear safeguards under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"As the disappearance of such equipment and materials may be of proliferation significance, any State that has information about the location of such items should provide the IAEA with that information," ElBaradei said.

The IAEA is also considering requests by Iraq for help in selling leftover nuclear material at its Tuwaitha facility in the centre of the country.

In other related news, UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan was asked what he thought of the report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction presented to the US Congress recently. "You may recall that before [Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission Hans] Blix left here, he indicated that they had not found any evidence. So I am not surprised by that report," he replied, according to a UN statement.

When asked by a reporter if the report gave the UN more credibility, Annan said, "I think it indicates that the inspectors had an impact. The UN inspection did what it was supposed to do."

The UN top envoy for Iraq, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, returned to Baghdad last week and held meetings with a wide spectrum of Iraqi political leaders and actors to see how the world body could assist in the transitional process, a UN spokesman said.

As the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Qazi, also met the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who was visiting Iraq. The UN envoy held a regular meeting with US Ambassador John Negroponte in Baghdad, he added.

With violence and heavy fighting continuing between US troops and insurgents in the central Iraqi cities of Samarrah and Fallujah, there are reports that Coalition armoured vehicles are surrounding the cities preventing access, according to the latest World Food Programme (WFP) situation report. In addition, severe shortages in anaesthetic drugs, operating equipment and antibiotics have been reported at the main hospital in Samarrah.

Meanwhile, concerns are mounting over the safety of journalists following the death of Dina Mohammed Hassan, a correspondent for the Al-Hurriya Arabic TV station. She was gunned down in front of her Baghdad residence as she waited for a car to transport her to work, station staff told the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP).

The identities of the attackers are unknown along with the motive and police are investigating, according to international press reports.

Nawrooz Mohamed Fatah, director of Al-Hurriya, told CPJ that militant groups might perceive Al-Hurriya as being sympathetic to the US since its financial backer, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), has friendly relations with Washington.

At least 33 other journalists and as many as 13 media workers have been killed in Iraq by Iraqi forces, armed groups and US troops since March 2003. Iraqis employed by Coalition forces or foreign organisations, including the media, have been particularly vulnerable to attack by armed groups.

CONTENTS:

IRAQ: Women empowered by NGO project
IRAQ: Planning ministry sends wish list to Tokyo donors' conference
IRAQ: Pilot training for entrepreneurs
IRAQ: Sporadic fighting in Sadr City prevents repair work
IRAQ: More Iraqis return to the south
IRAQ: Lack of books affecting children's education
IRAQ: Human rights festival in north draws hundreds
IRAQ: Focus on HIV/AIDS
IRAQ: Massive efforts needed on reconstruction
IRAQ: Little progress on child mortality - UNICEF
IRAQ: Focus on Iraqi refugees
IRAQ: Medical students offer assistance to the disabled
IRAQ: Family level support for Kirkuk IDPs

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