Blix to tell Baghdad: help us or face attack

The UN's chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, who flies to Baghdad today on a mission that could make the difference between peace and war, said yesterday that Iraq had "not co-operated sufficiently" with his inspectors, and "the seriousness of the situation" would be conveyed to the Iraqis.

In Cyprus, from where he will leave for Iraq with Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr Blix said he would press the Iraqi government to fill in the gaps about its weapons of mass destruction.

The 12,000-page armaments declaration filed to the Security Council by Iraq last month left many questions unanswered, Mr Blix has said. He and Mr ElBaradei will confront Iraqi officials with these omissions in meetings today and tomorrow.

"There has been prompt access," Mr Blix said yesterday. "There has been access everywhere. That is fine. But on substance there has not been sufficient co-operation."

The two men's visit to Iraq is in preparation for their first formal report to the UN Security Council, due on 27 January, on Iraq's co-operation with the inspection process. "We are still uncertain whether they have weapons of mass destruction and we are not closing the dossier because there are too many gaps in it," Mr Blix said.

Next week's report is seen as crucial: depending on its wording, other leading nations could press the US and Britain to allow the inspectors more time, or Tony Blair and George Bush, who meet at Camp David soon afterwards, could launch a military campaign in February.

Asked if the inspectors in Iraq needed more time to finish their work, Mr Blix would only say yesterday: "If we have full co-operation – sincere and genuine – then it [the inspection process] could be fast." He did not say how long.

In their talks in Baghdad, the UN representatives are expected to demand "active" rather than "passive" co-operation from the Iraqis, a point elaborated on by their officials on Friday. "The onus is on Baghdad to come forward with evidence that exonerates Iraq," Mark Gwozdecky, Mr ElBaradei's spokesman, said in Vienna.

The Iraqis deserved "a mixed report card", Mr Gwozdecky added. "They are co-operating in terms of giving us access, but they have not done all they should have in taking the initiative."

On Thursday the inspectors found empty chemical warheads in Iraq, a discovery the White House called "serious", but weapons experts said the 122mm rocket casings were from an artillery weapon that could not be considered a weapon of mass destruction.