Middle East News
Syria still not cooperating fully, IAEA reports (Extra)
Aug 28, 2009, 17:12 GMT
Vienna - Syria is not fully cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency in clearing up questions about a possible secret nuclear reactor, the IAEA said in a report issued on Friday.
Last year, the Vienna-based agency has found traces of man-made uranium at the al-Kibar site in the Syrian desert which was bombed by Israel in 2007 before IAEA inspectors could visit it.
Damascus claims it cannot give the Vienna-based inspectors additional access because the al-Kibar site was a conventional military installation.
However, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in his report that this argument was not valid under Syria's wide-ranging inspection agreement with his organization.
Such agreements do not limit 'agency access to information, activities or locations simply because they may be military-related,' ElBaradei wrote.
Damascus has allowed the IAEA to sample some additional nuclear materials in the country which are currently being analyzed, but the inspectors are seeking further information and explanations.
The US has provided the nuclear agency with intelligence concerning the al-Kibar site and has said the secret reactor there was nearly completed when it was bombed.
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