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Iraq Urges Immediate Lifting of UN Sanctions
Iraq's Foreign Minister Said Al-Sahaf reiterated Monday that the sanctions against his country should be immediately lifted.
Speaking to the press before meeting with U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan on the suspended UN weapons inspection in Iraq, Al-Sahaf said Iraq has complied with all relevant UN resolutions and has met all the requirements.
The obligations under the UN resolutions are mutual, Al-Sahaf noted.
It is the time for the United Nations Security Council to fulfill its obligation that is to immediately lift the sanctions against Iraq, the foreign minister stressed.
He said that the Iraqi delegation did not bring agenda to the planned talks, and what it brought was Iraq's position, namely, calling for immediate lifting of sanctions against Iraq.
Iraq has been under stringent UN sanctions since its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Under relevant UN resolutions, the sanctions cannot be lifted until Iraq is clarified to be free from weapons of mass destruction.
UN weapons inspection in Iraq has been suspended since the US-led military strikes against the country in December 1998. Iraq has reiterated that lifting sanctions is the precondition for the UN arms inspectors to return.
Al-Sahaf is here at the UN for the two-day talks with Annan, which are aimed to break the two-year impasse over the weapons inspection. This is the first direct and substantive talks between the UN and Iraq since December 1998.
Both the United Nations and Iraq downplayed the talks. Annan told the press before the first session of the talks that he did not expect miracle to happen in the two-day talks.
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