To: Tim Luke who wrote (29610 ) 12/17/1998 12:33:00 AM From: MoneyMade Respond to of 119973
What do you expect...Report: Top-level Iraq talks planned in Geneva Word comes as Iraq's Aziz goes to Moscow November 18, 1997 Web posted at: 11:12 a.m. EST (1612 GMT) MOSCOW (CNN) -- The foreign ministers of Russia, the United States, France, Britain and China plan to meet in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss the Iraq crisis, Russia's Tass news agency said, quoting diplomatic sources. There was no immediate confirmation of the report, which surfaced in Moscow, where Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz arrived unexpectedly on Tuesday. Aziz held talks with President Boris Yeltsin and Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov on the standoff over U.N. arms inspections. The Iraqi official has been visiting various countries to try to rally support for President Saddam Hussein, whose government says the United States unduly controls the U.N. arms inspection teams. The United States is looking to Russia and France to use their traditional lines of communication with Hussein to help ease tensions. Primakov is an Arab affairs expert and former Russian intelligence chief who as a Soviet diplomat tried to head off military action against Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1990. The current standoff began on October 29 when Iraq announced it planned to expel U.S. weapons inspectors working for the United Nations. The expulsions took place last Thursday, when six Americans were kicked out. The U.N. withdrew its remaining 68 inspectors in protest. The Iraqi action was condemned by the U.N. Security Council and the United States held out the threat of a possible military strike in retaliation. Certification that Iraq has destroyed all its nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic arms is required before punishing sanctions imposed after Baghdad invaded Kuwait in 1990 can be lifted. Get the whole picture...