Edited version of Iraqi arms declaration being given entire security council
( 2002-12-18 10:34 ) (7 )

A sanitized version of Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration to the UN was being distributed late Tuesday to the 10 non-permanent members of the 15-member UN Security Council, a UN source said.

The distribution began at 6:30 pm (2330 GMT) in the offices of the Control, Verification and Inspections Commission on the 31st floor of the UN headquarters building overlooking New York's East River.

Copies of the expurgated report, sealed in unmarked envelopes about four inches (10 centimeters) thick, were being picked up by representatives of the 10 non-permanent members.

Iraq handed over the full document to Hans Blix's UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) on December 7 and full copies were given to the five permanent members of the security council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- the world's declared nuclear powers.

The edited 3,000-page version being distributed Tuesday night was stripped of sensitive material that could be used to further a nascent nuclear program and hence could not be entrusted to the non-permanent council members, which include Syria.

Alfonso Valdivieso, the ambassador of Colombia, which chairs the council this month, said the expurgated document would be sent to the member governments after Blix explains it to them on Thursday.

The United States has already said it was sceptical of the full document, which it termed Iraq President Saddam Hussein's last chance to come clean on whether he possesses weapons of mass destruction.