Iraq Largely Cooperating With
Inspectors, UN Security Council Hears
Agence France-Presse
Tuesday 28 January
2003 --
01:02 AM
Chief
UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq has largely cooperated with arms
experts, in a report to the UN Security Council that could determine whether the
world body backs military action against Baghdad. Blix said
Baghdad had refused to grant a request for
the use of U-2 spy planes and cited "strong indications" that
Iraq had produced more anthrax than
admitted in a report filed last month.
"Access
has been provided to all sites we have requested to inspect," Blix told the
Security Council. Shortly before the report was read out at UN headquarters in
New
York, the
United
States served notice that it would not
accept anything less than full compliance from Baghdad to UN disarmament demands.
"The
United
States will read the Blix report to see
one thing, one thing very simple: Is Iraq complying, yes or no?" said White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer. Iraq "must comply in all regards. not in
some regards, not in half regards, not in some areas but not other areas. Yes or
no, are they or aren't they."
Blix
and Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), appeared before the top UN body to report on progress in their
first two months of work hunting down
Iraq's alleged weapons of mass
destruction, amid mounting US threats to wage a solo war on
Iraq. For his part, Baradei said that
IAEA inspectors had not identifed any illegal nuclear activities in
Iraq but he asserted that
Baghdad needs to be more "pro-active" in
helping nuclear experts do their work.
As
appeals mounted worldwide for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan said he expected the Security Council to give weapons
inspectors more time to complete their work in
Iraq. "If they do need time, they should
be given the time to finish their work," Anna told reporters ahead of the key
briefing by Blix, chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC). "I suspect the council will allow for that time," he
added.
Despite
the expectation that the Security Council would allow inspectors more time, the
meeting was being seen as a countdown to conflict in
Iraq. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri
appealed for the UN inspectors to be fair in their report. "I hope they will be
fair... and they will present the facts as they are on the ground," Sabri said
in Baghdad while denying US allegations of
Iraqi links to the al-Qaeda terror network.
On
the eve of the report, US Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted that
Washington had a "sovereign right to take
military action on Iraq alone or in a coalition of the
willing," amid vocal opposition in Europe. The
United
States "will act even if others are not
prepared to join us," Powell, who claimed that a dozen countries were prepared
to support Washington, told a meeting of political and
business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
Oil
prices rose amid fears that the US was preparing to launch an assault
on Iraq and disrupt Middle East supplies, sending world stock
markets plunging and Europe's markets hitting a seven-year low.
The EU, which includes four Security Council members, said in a statement it
"welcomes their (inspectors') intention to continue and intensify their
operations."
UN
Security Council resolution 1441, which mandated the inspections in November,
"gives an unambiguous message that the Iraqi government has a final opportunity
to resolve the crisis peacefully", the statement said. Amid the flurry of
diplomatic activity in Brussels, EU president
Greece said that Foreign Minister George
Papandreou would consider going to Baghdad on a diplomatic mission, insisting
that a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis was still possible.
With
a huge US-led military build-up underway in the Gulf, Russian President Vladimir
Putin told British Prime Minister Tony Blair in telephone talks that the UN
inspections must be allowed to continue, the Kremlin said. "In their discussion
of Iraq, the Russian side stressed the need
to continue the work of international inspectors in line with UN Security
Council resolutions," the statement said.
Russia, along with
France and
China, is insisting on a diplomatic
solution to the standoff over Iraq's supposed arsenal of weapons of
mass destruction.
Both
the United
States and key ally
Britain have identified any failure by
Baghdad to cooperate with the UN inspectors
as a possible trigger for war and could use Monday's report to press for
military action against Iraq. President George W. Bush was
expected to make the case for maintaining a tough stance on
Iraq in his State of the Union address
to the US Congress on Tuesday.
Blair
and Bush are to meet Friday at the presidential retreat Camp David near
Washington, in what is being seen as a key
"war council" to flesh out preparations for strikes against Saddam. The call for
more time was echoed by Germany, anxious to find a diplomatic
solution to the crisis. Germany holds a non-permanent seat on the
Security Council and has said it will not vote in favour of military action.
"I
think now the point is to try everything to implement 1441 without the use of
military force," said Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. "The German position is
that the inspectors should have all the time they need," Fischer told reporters
in Brussels. France, a permanent Security
Council member with veto power, has also been outspoken in its criticism for
Washington's preparations for war. Egyptian
Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher added to calls for diplomacy. "Everyone agrees that
the inspectors should be given the time that they need, the time for which they
have asked to complete their task," Maher said in
Paris.
Tens
of thousands of people meanwhile took to the streets of Arab capitals to protest
against US and British threats to strike
Iraq.