Written question asked by Llew Smith (Labour) on Tuesday, 10 February 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 February 2004. It was answered by Chris Mullin (Labour) on Monday, 23 February 2004 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the UN Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission inspectors discovered at the Al-Rafah test site; whether additional information has since been found by the Iraq Survey Group; and whether the Government has obtained further information since September 2002 on Al-Rafah in addition to that produced by the UN Special Commission on Iraq and the Iraq Survey Group.

Answer: Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the UN Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission inspectors discovered at the Al-Rafah test site; whether additional information has since been found by the Iraq Survey Group; and whether the Government has obtained further information since September 2002 on Al-Rafah in addition to that produced by the UN Special Commission on Iraq and the Iraq Survey Group. [155057] Mr. Mullin: As reported by Dr. Hans Blix in the UN Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) working document on unresolved disarmament issues published on 6 March 2003, UNMOVIC inspectors discovered the construction of a new liquid propellant test stand at Al-Rafah designed for both horizontal and vertical testing of engines for Al-Samoud missiles. The Iraq Survey Group is continuing to carry out investigations at sites throughout Iraq. They will present their findings in due course.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 418 c85W; 155057
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Inspections Iraq Weapons Testing Guided weapons Iraq Survey Group UN Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk