UN inspectors end Baghdad talks
The chief United Nations arms inspectors and officials in Baghdad today agreed on practical steps to greater Iraqi cooperation with the UN disarmament programme.
The steps included Iraq encouraging its weapons scientists to submit to private UN interviews – a key demand of the United States.
Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear agency, arrived in Iraq yesterday as Washington warned that time was running out for Baghdad to eliminate all its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
After the talks, the two said substantive issues, such as a complete accounting of old Iraqi chemical and biological weapons, remain unresolved.
“These issues are open and may require time,” said Blix, head of the UN agency responsible for Iraqi chemical and biological disarmament.
They must report next Monday to the UN Security Council, updating their findings and Baghdad’s compliance with the UN inspections that resumed in November after four years.
Blix would not say whether that report would be upbeat or pessimistic, but he said of the talks in Baghdad: “There are a number of points which would have otherwise been negative but which have now been turned around.”
The head of the Iraqi delegation to the talks, presidential science adviser Amir al-Saadi, described the discussions as “very constructive and positive”.
The US and Britain insist President Saddam Hussein’s government still maintains illegal weapons and threaten war if it does not give them up.
US navy flotillas and military units have meanwhile been converging on the seas and deserts of the Middle East.
Senior US government figures yesterday underlined their growing impatience with Iraq and the inspection process.
“We can’t keep this up forever,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said.
But others on the 15-nation Security Council advocate more patience, allowing the inspectors months more to do their job.
“We are going to say we still need some time,” ElBaradei said after today’s three hours of talks.
A joint UN-Iraqi statement listed these among other major points of agreement:
* The Iraqi government will encourage weapons scientists to agree to private interviews with UN inspectors. The two sides did not, however, announce agreement on conducting such interviews abroad, an idea pushed by the US government.
* Iraq agreed to expand the list of such potential interview subjects, with advice from the UN experts. The list of about 500 submitted last month was described as not a “serious effort” by Blix.
* Iraq will conduct a “comprehensive search” for old 122mm rocket warheads designed to hold chemical agents. Sixteen such empty warheads have been found in two Iraqi locations in recent days. Thousands such munitions remain unaccounted for in Iraqi documents reviewed by the United Nations.
* Iraq agreed to respond to questions regarding its 12,000-page dossier submitted to the United Nations on December 8, reporting on its chemical, biological and nuclear programmes. Both Washington and the UN inspectors criticised the declaration as inadequate.
* Some documents requested by the UN inspectors to help fill gaps in the declaration have been handed over. Others requested have not been produced.
Blix said the UN teams have not yet analysed the documents, but he said: “For the moment, I don’t see that this has taken us forward.”
He added, however, that “at least it was a response, a partial response.” He did not describe the material.
Blix noted that the substantive issues still needing resolution included questions about old Iraqi chemical and biological weapons, such as VX nerve agent and anthrax.
But, speaking of the agreement on practical matters, he said, “We have come a long way” toward what he called an “effective, credible disarmament process.”
“Today was just not the time for substantive issues,” he added.
