Inspection commission could begin work in Iraq

Now that a core of staff has been recruited and trained by the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), work in Iraq could begin, according to a new report released Thursday at UN Headquarters in New York.

"With the completion of the first UNMOVIC training course and the recruitment of a sufficient number of professional and trained core staff and the number of trained professionals on the roster, the Commission could plan and commence a number of activities in Iraq which would be necessary to prepare for monitoring, inspection and verification envisaged by the Security Council," UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix writes in the report.

The report does not indicate when work would commence, and a UN spokesman told reporters in New York today that, "an UNMOVIC team has yet to receive permission from Baghdad to travel to Iraq."

According to the report, recruitment for UNMOVIC -- which replaced the UN Special Commission responsible for verifying the destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction -- is on the rise.

Individuals have been selected for all of the senior positions of the Commission in New York. Currently, 42 professionals have been recruited from 20 countries, in keeping with UNMOVIC's aim of having staff from a wide geographical base.