BAGHDAD, 15 December 2002 — The United Nations pressed Baghdad for a list of scientists linked to its arms programs as the head of the international nuclear watchdog said the UN would need a few months to reach a conclusion on Iraq’s arms dossier. In London fractious Iraqi opposition groups met to plan roles in a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq and the United States ordered another 27,000 Reserve and National Guard troops to prepare for active duty.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has written to Iraqi presidential adviser Amir Al-Saadi asking Baghdad to name its arms scientists by the end of December, Blix’s spokesman said on Friday. An Iraqi official has said the list is in the works.

Under Security Council resolution 1441 of Nov. 8, the inspectors have the right to interview in private anyone who might know details of Iraq’s weapons programs, if necessary by taking them and their families out of the country.

The United States wants Blix and his counterpart at the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El-Baradei, to do just that. But some diplomats believe Washington is pushing the issue to provoke a clash between Baghdad and the UN arms experts that could provide a quick pretext for a war on Iraq.

“We are not going to abduct anybody, and we’re not serving as a defection agency,” Blix said last week.

On Iraq’s declaration on its weapons program, El-Baradei said: “By January, we should have a status report which should move us forward. We still need a few months before we come to a conclusion on the Iraqi declaration.”

El-Baradei and Blix are expected to give preliminary findings to the Security Council in New York on Thursday. UN experts, testing Iraq’s assertion that it no longer has any banned weapons, pounced on 11 chemical, biological, nuclear and missile sites yesterday, Iraqi officials said.

They returned to the Communicable Diseases Control Center in Baghdad, after failing to gain access to some locked rooms there during an inspection on Friday.

In London, 330 delegates representing six Iraqi opposition groups recognized by the United States gathered to map out a future for the country and call for a federal, tolerant Iraq in the event Saddam is ousted from power. (R)