A rchive Date
[ 19-11-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Yugoslavia ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2002/11/18/4755-ap.html
Experts to probe Yugoslav deals with Iraq
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC -- Associated Press
Mon, November 18, 2002
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- U.S. weapons experts are in Yugoslavia to determine if Belgrade has stopped all arms trade with Iraq and what benefit Saddam Hussein's military derived from the illicit deals that were revealed last month, officials said Monday.
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said Belgrade should not hide anything from the U.S. experts in order to avoid further embarrassment over the arms scandal.
The government officially conceded last month that state arms dealer, Yugoimport, had violated the U.N. ban on weapons trade with Baghdad by overhauling MiG jet engines and providing other unspecified military services for Iraq. Subsequently, the government fired the defense minister and announced it would suspend military and economic cooperation with all countries under U.N. sanctions.
A U.S. Embassy official, speaking Monday on condition of anonymity, confirmed that a group of U.S. weapons experts was in Yugoslavia to learn what help had been given to Iraq. It was not clear when they arrived. The official refused to specify whether the Americans were affiliated with a civilian or military agency, adding only that "the inspectors are still arriving and they will have a quite extensive program here."
The news came as U.N. inspectors arrived in Baghdad to resume the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. President Bush has warned the Iraqi president the United States will attack if he fails to cooperate with the inspectors.
Yugoimport's illegal deals have become an embarrassment for Belgrade, sparking fears that the United Nations could again impose sanctions on Yugoslavia.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is traveling in the Balkans, was expected in Belgrade on Tuesday. The illegal arms trade with Iraq was to figure prominently in his talks with Yugoslav officials.
Yugoslavia was under a U.N. embargo until 2001 for its role in stoking the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Former President Slobodan Milosevic is on trial for war crimes at the U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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