UNITED NATIONS, Nov 26: Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix on Monday warned Baghdad to provide convincing evidence to prove it had no weapons of mass destruction.

Talking to reporters after briefing Security Council members on his Iraq visit, Blix, who is chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, (UNMOVIC), said inspections would begin on Wednesday, with 19 arms experts — 11 from his unit and eight from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) _ in charge of nuclear arms teams.

Blix said he hoped that by Christmas he would have 100 people on the ground to conduct searches and investigations of Iraqi sites.

“If the Iraqi side were to state as it still did at our meeting — that there are no such programmes, it would need to provide convincing documentary or other evidence,” Blix told the council.

He said earlier declarations Iraq had submitted to the inspectors “in many cases left an open question whether some weapons remained” and did not “give a full account”.

“The production of mustard gas is not exactly the same as the production of marmalade,” he added.

“If they want to be believed they had better provide either the weapons, if they remain, or a better account,” Blix said. “They have their budgets. They have the archives.”

When asked if he was being pushed by the United States to be more confrontational, Blix said, “We get recommendations and advice from all countries. We may not be the brightest in the world but we are in nobody’s pocket.”

The UN Security Council’s Nov resolution requires Iraq to submit a declaration to the council by December 8, listing all its weapons programmes as well as material that could be used as ingredients for nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic arms.

US WARNING: The United States warned on Monday that any errors in Iraq’s declaration could be a “material breach” of the security council resolution and might lead to war.