Al-Hayat: AL: 15 Arab experts join the UN inspection teams

The secretary general of the Arab League (AL) Amr Moussa has stressed in statements issued yesterday to the London- based al-Hayat daily that 15 Arab experts will join the UN inspection teams in Iraq.

The paper quoted Moussa as saying that 10 to 15 Arab experts will join the UN team in Iraq.

On the other hand, a well-informed source at the Arab League said that chairman of the UN team for inspection and investigation Hans Blix notified the Arab League officially of his consent over Arab experts joining the committee.

He added that those Arab experts who were accepted will be subjected to training courses in Vienna for two weeks in order to join shortly the inspection teams in Iraq.

The AL official who asked to be anonymous continued that interviews were made by the committee and the Arab experts recently in Paris and New York, especially among them for experts in the biological and chemical areas in several Arab states.

He explained that the number of Arab experts who were nominated from six Arab states reached 26 experts from Algeria, Qatar, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia.

He added, on the other hand, that the Arab League is waiting for the reply of the International Agency for Atomic Energy to accept the Arab candidates within its work teams in Iraq for inspection for nuclear weapons and he expected the AL to receive next week the answer of the IAAE.