UN Teams Inspect Saddam's Palaces

UN weapons inspectors today made their first unannounced visits to Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces, in a test of new powers to inspect for weapons of mass destruction anywhere, any time.

Two palaces were searched in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, after the United Nations announced that some equipment that inspectors were interested in had been missing when they visited a missile-related site.

Today a UN convoy rolled up to the gates of the al-Sajoud palace, in west Baghdad, on the sixth day of inspections. The guards, no doubt aware that inspectors would visit at some point, even if the timing would be a surprise, opened the huge gates and allowed the half-dozen UN vehicles inside with minimal delay.

A few minutes later, President Saddam's presidential secretary, Abid Hamoud, arrived in a four-wheel-drive vehicle and entered the sprawling grounds by the Tigris river.

A second team of UN inspectors arrived at the main presidential palace, Karadah, in central Baghdad. The palace was inaugurated in 1957 for the last monarch, King Faisal II. The palaces contain both living quarters and offices. It was not known if President Saddam was in either of the palaces today.

Access to the president's many presidential sites was a contentious issue in the previous round of inspections in the 1990s. The Iraqis sought to bar those UN inspectors and it required personal negotiations between the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, and President Saddam to reach an accommodation whereby inspectors could then visit with diplomatic escort and notice.

The international teams later inspected such presidential sites, finding nothing.

A new UN security council resolution adopted last month superseded such arrangements, mandating unrestricted free, unannounced access to all Iraqi sites.

Yesterday, inspectors searched the Karama ballistic design plant in Baghdad, where they conducted their longest search yet, spending six hours looking for signs of outlawed Iraqi missiles. The plant's deputy director, Brig Mohammed Salah, said: "They didn't find anything."

Until yesterday, the longest inspections had lasted about four hours, some much less. The inspectors, as usual, had no immediate comment for waiting journalists. But a UN report later said that some equipment of interest at Karama had been missing. The Iraqis said some of the missing equipment had been destroyed in US air attacks and some had been transferred.