Niger Attempted to Sell Uranium to Countries Including Iraq, European Intelligence Officials Say

European intelligence officials said that smugglers in Niger were negotiating uranium sales to Iraq and four other countries from 1999 to 2001, the Financial Times reported yesterday (see GSN, May 17).

European intelligence officials learned during that period that the smugglers planed to sell uranium ore and refined uranium ore called yellowcake to China, Iran, Iraq, Libya and North Korea, according to the Times. Meetings between Niger officials and buyers from the five countries were held in several European countries, including Italy, according to a senior counterproliferation official. 

The European intelligence officials’ claims help to support arguments made by the United States and the United Kingdom prior to the invasion of Iraq that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sought to obtain uranium from an African country, later identified as Niger, according to the Times. The Iraq-Niger uranium claims became discredited, however, after documents concerning the issue purportedly sent by a Niger official to a senior Iraqi official were later found to have been forgeries (Mark Huband, Financial Times, June 27).

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