UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15: Solid evidence is needed to prove that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix said on Friday before leaving to conduct inspections for the first time in four years.

“We expect that the first inspections will take place on November 27,” Blix told a news conference, adding that the United Nations Security Council would not tolerate any “cat-and-mouse games” by the Iraqi authorities.

Blix was scheduled to leave New York later Friday for Paris and to go from there to Cyprus before flying to Baghdad on Monday with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohammed El-Baradei.

Blix said the most important date in the calendar was December 8, when Iraq is obliged to make a full declaration of its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programmes.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday, Iraq denied having such weapons, but said it would welcome the inspectors so as to expose “the fabrications of the liars” in the US and British governments.

Blix said he did not rule out the possibility that Iraq would admit to having such weapons.

“They will have one month — not quite one month — to consider this and to examine their archives, their stocks to see whether indeed there is something or not,” he said.

But “if a declaration comes, and it maintains the position of the past, it will be the moment for those who consider that they have evidence, to consider whether they put that evidence on the table,” he said.

In Washington on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asserted bluntly that Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction.

“Rather than react to statements that may or may not have been made by any of these folks, I’ll just simply say they do have them,” Rumsfeld told reporters.

Without mentioning Rumsfeld, Blix said: “I don’t think anyone can simply say that it (an Iraqi declaration) is wrong and we all know it is wrong. I think one will have to produce evidence.”

Resolution 1441, adopted unanimously by the Security Council one week ago, warned Iraq of “serious consequences” if its declarations contained falsehoods or omissions.

US President George W. Bush has made it clear that “serious consequences” means war.

“If I had solid evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, then I would put that on the table of the Security Council,” Blix said.

“I do not have that, but others may have such evidence and that would be the moment to produce it.”

He said that carrying out effective inspections was his biggest challenge.

“There are lots of reports that they are hiding things, that there are mobile units and underground units, and the Security Council wants us to get to them, and it’s not so easy,” he said.

But he also emphasised: “We are not instructed to carry out provocative inspections.”

If UN member states had evidence, “I would hope they would come to us first,” Blix said, adding: “It would be a good thing if we could find it, rather than waiting for it to be a breach.”

Resolution 1441 warns Iraq that false or incomplete statements, coupled with a failure to cooperate with the inspectors would put it in “material breach” of resolutions including one which set the terms of the Gulf War ceasefire.—AFP