LONDON, 3 August — The United Nations yesterday greeted with skepticism an Iraqi offer to chief UN weapons inspector to visit Baghdad for technical talks while the United States and Britain accused Saddam Hussein of “playing games”.
Although Washington and London did not totally dismiss the Iraqi offer, which instantly opened up old divisions among the big powers on the Security Council, officials insisted that inspectors had to have unfettered access to anywhere they demanded.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri made the surprise overture in a letter handed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday, inviting Hans Blix, head of the UN weapons inspectors, to visit Baghdad for fresh talks on resuming inspections.
Responding cautiously yesterday, Annan decided to discuss it with the Security Council on Monday after realizing that the Iraqis were still insisting on terms that have so far proved unacceptable.
In his letter, Sabri said talks with Blix, chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, should be arranged to “establish a solid basis for the next stage of monitoring and inspection activities and to move forward to that stage”.
UN officials said the secretary-general was disquieted by the details of the letter, which suggested that Iraq wants to negotiate the terms of the inspectors’ mission before they are readmitted. The UN says the opposite: that inspectors must go in and decide what they need to do for themselves.
A spokesman said that while Annan “welcomes the letter, which is in line with the agreement to maintain contact, including discussion of technical matters, the procedures proposed are at variance with ones laid down by the Security Council in its resolution of 1999”. Sanctions against Iraq will only be lifted when it is certified to be free of weapons of mass destruction.
The letter arrived as President George Bush reaffirmed his goal of instigating a “regime change” in Iraq. It seemed to indicate that Baghdad is now taking seriously the threat of US military action to dislodge Saddam.
While both the US and Britain, its main ally in taking a hard line on Iraq, voiced skepticism about the latest Iraqi gesture, other permanent members of the Security Council, notably Russia, moved quickly to encourage a visit to Baghdad by Blix. Russia is opposed to any military action in Iraq. Most Middle Eastern governments have also voiced alarm.
A British Foreign minister said: “Saddam has a long history of playing games.” However, the Russian Foreign Ministry took a different stance. “Moscow considers Iraq’s proposal to be an important step toward solving the present problems through diplomatic and political means,” a statement said.
Washington did not dismiss the letter out of hand, although President George W. Bush reiterated that he was considering an array of “tools” to depose the Iraqi leader. (The Independent)
