Tracking Number: 217585
Title: "Security Council Summons Iraqi Envoys." UN Security Council President Ambassador Thomas Pickering called in Iraqi diplomats to convey the council's deep concern and
consternation over Iraq's failure to cooperate with the special commission destroying Iraqi weapons. (920228)
Translated Title: Consejo de seguridad convoca a enviados Iraquies.; Le Conseil de Securite et l`Irak. (920228)
Author: AITA, JUDY (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19920228
Text:
*92022804.EPF
*EPF504 02/28/92 SECURITY COUNCIL SUMMONS IRAQI ENVOYS (Iraqis now stalling on weapons destruction) (560) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, president of the Security Council, called in Iraqi diplomats February 27 to convey the council's "deep concern, (and) consternation" over Iraq's failure to cooperate with the special commission destroying Iraqi weapons.
Talking with journalists after a private meeting of the council, Pickering said that members asked him to deliver the message after hearing a report from Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, executive chairman of the special commission, that "the Iraqis remain in nearly complete non-compliance with certain important aspects" of the cease-fire conditions concerning chemical, biological, nuclear, and ballistic weapons.
On February 19 the council warned Iraq that it faced "serious consequences" if it continued to ignore its obligations under the Persian Gulf cease-fire, and dispatched Ekeus to Baghdad to secure its "unconditional agreement" to comply with U.N. demands for the long-term weapons program monitoring. After three days of meetings with top Iraqi officials, Ekeus reported that Iraq had not agreed unconditionally to abide by the council's demands.
Ekeus added that Iraq was ignoring as well council requirements concerning the rights of the special commission to carry on inspections and the long-term monitoring plans.
And he noted that another serious infraction was developing with Iraqi officials trying to prevent an inspection team now in Iraq from destroying certain items used in the production of the now-banned ballistic missiles.
Pickering said the latest situation "might be characterized as a kind of slow-motion parking lot scene: the Iraqis having asked for another delay until tomorrow afternoon both on the question of whether they are obligated to destroy these items and whether they will go ahead and destroy them."
In September, Iraqi officials and a U.N. team had a stand-off in a parking lot in Baghdad for several days when inspectors tried to remove documents on Iraq's nuclear weapons program. The U.N. experts were eventually allowed to copy and remove the documents.
"The Iraqis are now moving in a mode of challenging the resolutions which the Security Council has passed, and we know that is not a useful road to pursue," Pickering said.
"They are miscalculating again and it is extremely serious," he said. The council will be holding more private sessions on the issue over the next few days to decide how to proceed, Pickering said.
"No options are foreclosed; no options have been decided," he added. Iraq has said it is sending a high level delegation to meet with the council, but Pickering said the council would not wait indefinitely for a group that has not specified when it will be in New York.
Ekeus called the destruction of the ballistic weapons materials an "urgent matter of high principle."
"The missiles have been destroyed. The weapons are no longer disputed items -- they are destroyed. But we are now entering a new phase which should have started...destruction of production capabilities, components for making new missiles. That's a very important part of the resolution," he said.
According to resolution 687 which sets out the requirements for ending the war, Iraqi nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic weapons, as well as production facilities must be destroyed. "There are no exceptions," Ekeus said.
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File Identification: 02/28/92, PO-502; 02/28/92, AE-508; 02/28/92, AS-508; 02/28/92, AR-523; 02/28/92, EP-504; 02/28/92, EU-502; 02/28/92, NE-504; 02/28/92, NA-503; 03/03/92, AF-204
Product Name: Wireless
File
Product Code: WF
Languages: Spanish; Arabic; French
Keywords: UNITED NATIONS-SECURITY COUNCIL; PICKERING, THOMAS; IRAQ/Defense & Military; INSPECTIONS; ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION;
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY; DIPLOMATIC PERSONNEL; ARMISTICE; EKEUS, ROLF; MILITARY CAPABILITIES; MILI
Thematic Codes: 1NE; 1AC; 1UN
Target Areas: AF; AR; EA; EU; NE
PDQ Text Link: 217585; 217519; 217951
USIA Notes: *92022802.POL
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