NEWS REPORT:
Saddam Completes Move of Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Weapons Material into Presidential Palace Complex
story.news.yahoo.com
Tue Oct 1, 3:54 PM ET
By Louis Charbonneau and Caroline Drees
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iraqi arms experts and U.N. weapons inspectors struck a deal Tuesday about resuming work in Baghdad, with an advance team of inspectors expected to arrive in Iraq in around two weeks.
Top U.N. officials said the agreement was reached as the Iraqi delegation, under pressure from the threat of a U.S.-led military attack, made a show of good faith by handing over long overdue information about their nuclear facilities.
But the deal did not change existing special rules on access to Iraq's presidential palaces, which Washington wants to abolish in a toughly worded new draft resolution that warns Iraq it would face the use of force if it fails to cooperate.
"The Iraqi representatives declared that Iraq accepts all rights of inspection provided for in all the relevant Security Council resolutions," chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix told reporters after the meeting.
The deal emerged after two days of talks at the United Nations ( news - web sites) in Vienna aimed at returning inspectors to Baghdad for the first time since 1998 -- an effort to prevent a threatened military strike by the United States and Britain, who accuse Iraq of amassing weapons of mass destruction.
Blix said there was a "big difference" in Iraq's willingness to cooperate compared to 1998.
"On the question of access, it was clarified that all sites are subject to immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access. However, the memorandum of understanding of 1998 establishes special procedures for access to eight presidential sites," he said.
Asked why he expected inspectors to get full access to suspected arms sites after past difficulties, Blix said the Iraqis had assured him they would cooperate fully, though this would be put to the test when inspectors returned.
"I think that ... has to be tested when we go back to Iraq. We need to make sure that we are making full use of our rights," he said, adding they still planned to return in mid-October.
The Iraqi delegation leader, President Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites)'s technical adviser Amir al-Saadi, said he was "happy" with the agreement and that the talks were businesslike and focused.
He also said Baghdad would ensure that sensitive locations like the defense and interior ministries -- not covered under the agreement on the presidential palaces -- were open to inspectors and that they got speedy access to the sites.
"We will take the measures that will cancel the need for a waiting period and getting approval," he said.
A SHOW OF GOOD FAITH
As promised, the Iraqi delegation handed over four CDs which they said contained long-overdue information on the status of so-called dual-use nuclear equipment that could be used to build nuclear weapons as well as for civilian purposes.
Iraq had not provided this information, due every six months, since December 1998, when U.N. inspectors left Baghdad on the eve of a punitive U.S.-British air assault.
Blix said the data had not yet been analyzed, but that it would help them choose initial inspection sites.
One of the major sticking points in the Vienna talks had been the issue of reconnaissance flights over the no-fly zones, where the United States and Britain have carried out bombing raids in recent days and which Iraq views as a war zone.
While the Iraqis said they would take all possible measures to ensure the safety of inspectors, they made no promises.
"Iraq could not provide full guarantees about safety in the no-fly zones," said Blix.
FIRST TEST FOR IRAQ
The negotiations finished amid increasingly tough language from the United States and Britain, who accuse Saddam of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
The Vienna talks were the first test of Iraq's cooperation since Baghdad agreed on Sept. 16 to the unconditional return of the inspectors under threat of a U.S. military strike.
Blix, a Swede, is executive chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), charged with locating and destroying chemical, biological and ballistic weapons in Iraq. A team from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency deals with nuclear weapons.
In Washington Monday, Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites) said the U.S. position was that the U.N. inspectors were not going anywhere until the Security Council had passed a new resolution on disarming Iraq.
"I think Dr. Blix has done a good job of bringing this team together, but he is fully aware of the possibility -- and I think high likelihood -- that there will be a new resolution ... that will structure his work and his actions," Powell said.
Blix said the Security Council could "take any decision that it wishes to direct us one way or the other. We are also aware of a new resolution on the table. But our planning remains based upon the resolutions that we have now." (additional reporting by Ellie Tzortzi) |
