Iraqi Weapons Inspections Must Comply with UN Resolution: Annan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 08, 2002

Iraqi Weapons Inspections Must Comply with UN Resolution: Annan

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UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Tuesday welcomed Iraq's invitation concerning arms inspections, but stressed that the resumption of such inspections must comply with the Security Council roadmap for the return of UN weapons inspectors.

Annan was replying to Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, who invited chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix to go to Baghdad for a review of suspected weapons of mass destruction.

In a letter to Sabri, Annan outlined the steps Iraq must accept according to a 1999 Security Council resolution, which called for the return of the arms inspectors, who left Iraq on Dec. 15, 1998,ahead of US and British air strikes punishing Iraq for not cooperating.

The secretary-general said he looked forward to Iraq's agreement to the UN roadmap and a formal invitation to the UN inspection agency to resume work after nearly four years' break.

Last week, Sabri invited Blix for technical talks and said Iraq wants Blix and its own experts to determine the outstanding issues regarding Iraq's banned weapons programs and figure out how to resolve them before inspectors return.

But the 1999 Security Council resolution says the inspectors cannot determine "key remaining disarmament tasks" until they return to Iraq and see what happened during the past four years and then determine within 60 days what questions Iraq still must answer about its chemical, biological, nuclear and missile programs. The list of outstanding issues will then have to be approved by the Security Council.

Annan said in his letter that Blix had to be guided by Security Council resolutions, and noted that Blix had expressed his readiness to transmit the list of remaining issues to the Iraqi government for comment before his report was submitted to the Security Council.

"It should therefore be possible at that time for Iraq to express its views and to provide additional information which may be relevant," Annan said.

Annan discussed the Iraqi invitation with the 15-member Security Council on Monday and spoke to Blix, who is on holiday in Sweden, before sending his letter through Iraq's UN mission.

"I have no problem with discussions at the technical level. Butmy concern is the agenda and how it proceeds," Annan said on Tuesday. "I think the letter will clarify that we welcome the invitation, but that we would want to proceed along other lines."

The new Iraqi move on inspectors is seen as an effort to create international pressure on the United States to hold back on a military campaign against Iraq, which the Bush administration is seeking to oust President Saddam Hussein.

The UN weapons inspections are key to suspending UN sanctions on Iraq, which were imposed when Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait in 1990. The inspectors entered Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War and spent seven years inspecting and destroying Iraq's dangerous weapons. Iraq said the inspections were complete and rejected further cooperation.

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Annan Replies Positively to Iraqi Letter on Weapons Inspections

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