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UN-Iraq Talks to Resume in Mid-April or Early May: Annan
United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that the world body and Iraq will hold their second round of talks on weapons inspection and the lifting of sanctions in mid-April or early May.
He hoped the talks to be held with a high-level Iraqi delegation will eventually lead to an end to a two-year deadlock between Baghdad and UN Security Council over weapons inspection and the lifting of sanctions.
A spokesman for Annan said Wednesday the secretary-general considered the two-day meeting, which ended Tuesday, "a positive beginning of a dialogue that he hopes might eventually lead to an end to the current stalemate between Iraq and the Security Council. "
The spokesman noted that Annan had suggested possible dates for a future round of talks to the Iraqi delegation. The proposed dates are in either mid-April or early May.
Annan is scheduled to brief the Security Council Wednesday afternoon on the two-day talks he held with a delegation headed by Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahaf.
Sahaf said after emerging from the talks yesterday that the next round of talks will be held here in New York within a few weeks.
The current stalemate between Baghdad and the Security Council started in December 1998, when U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq and the United States and Britain launched military strikes against the country. Iraq has since made the lifting of U.N. sanctions imposed in 1990 a precondition for allowing U.N. inspectors to return.
U.N. sanctions against Iraq, however, cannot be lifted unless the Security Council is convinced that Iraq has got rid of weapons of mass destruction, according to relevant U.N. resolutions.
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