07 November 1997
IRAQ REJECTS U.N. OVERTURES TO RESUME COOPERATION WITH UNSCOM
(Richardson: next step "incremental pressure" by Security Council) (1390) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- Although talks were held "in a very good atmosphere," three special U.N. envoys are returning to the Security Council without convincing Iraqi officials that it should cooperate fully with the U.N. Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi weapons (UNSCOM). At a press conference November 7 at the end of two days of lengthy meetings with numerous Iraqi officials, but not President Saddam Hussein, the envoys said that they impressed upon the Iraqis the seriousness of the Security Council's demands that UNSCOM work unhindered in the country. But Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz would not agree to comply with the council resolutions and wants to continue talks directly with the Security Council to air complaints against UNSCOM and the conduct of its American inspectors. The team tried to convince Baghdad to rescind it's decision to expel American weapons inspectors employed by UNSCOM and not allow inspections to be carried out with Americans present on the team. There are currently six Americans out of about 40 inspectors with UNSCOM in Iraq. The team is headed by former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi, currently U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, and includes Ambassador Emilio Cardenas of Argentina and Ambassador Jan Eliasson of Sweden, a former U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs. They are returning to U.N. headquarters in New York and are expected to report to the council on November 10. It is up to the Security Council to decide whether to meet with Tariq Aziz and whether to do that informally, privately, or in a formal open session. A U.N. spokesman said that if Iraq did not respond positively to his request that they resume full compliance with Security Council resolutions, the secretary general said he would terminate his diplomatic mission and refer the matter to the Security Council. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said that the secretary general will discuss the mission with the three envoys November 9 and 10. "From the comments made by the Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in Baghdad today it appears (the secretary general's) offer of an opportunity to climb down has been rejected," Eckhard said. The spokesman said that the secretary general "wants first to discuss fully with the three envoys what they heard in Baghdad and plan their approach to the Security Council. Certainly Mr. Tariq Aziz's comments indicate they are not going to back down, so you can assume from that the direction the secretary general is moving is toward terminating the mission and passing the ball to the Security Council." "But that decision will not be made by him until he's had a chance to talk to the three envoys," the U.N. spokesman said. Talking with journalists outside the Security Council November 7, U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson said that "the United States feels the next stage is the Security Council. We intend to be strong and firm and resolute in seeking incremental pressure to deal with this problem." While Richardson said that the United States is going to wait to hear the report of the special envoys, "our position is very clear: We believe that UNSCOM should operate once again fully and unconditionally with no restrictions, with Americans, with an international scientific group as it exists today." "The United States feels very strongly that this is not an issue between the United States and Iraq. This is an issue between Iraq (and) the international community, the United Nations, and now it appears the secretary general," Richardson said. The U.S. ambassador said that Tariq Aziz's call for dialogue actually "means defiance and delay." "We're not terribly sympathetic to that approach ... we're not hopeful of any new initiatives. The fact is it appears the envoys have not been successful," Richardson said. During his Baghdad press conference, Brahimi said that his team asked Iraqi officials "to consider going back to the status quo ante that prevailed before the 29th of October and to allow UNSCOM to come to Iraq, the leader of UNSCOM to come to Iraq, to discuss with them how cooperation -- which clearly has not been taking place in the best of conditions -- can resume in a better atmosphere so that UNSCOM can finish its work as soon as possible." "First of all, the Iraqis have not informed us of a decision to rescind their policy decision of the 29th of October," Brahimi said. The Iraqis also informed the envoys that their decision to suspend the expulsion of the Americans will continue as long as the talks continue in the council, he said. "Three, they consider that the commission cannot continue with its American members for the moment," Brahimi said. Eliasson said that while the Iraqis have not rescinded their decision, "it is done for the time being. On the Iraqi side, there is a hope that there is a continued process." He pointed out that one of the reasons for the trip was to lower tensions. "I think that, during the course of these days, we have seen a little bit of that lowering of temperature. We will, of course, hope that this will continue," Eliasson said. Brahimi said that "we asserted that this crisis is serious and there must be controls over it, and that the Security Council demands and urges a return to the status quo before 29 October." "The Iraqis told the secretary general that they have requests and complaints. They want the United Nations to listen to them. The secretary general agreed and we listened to all Iraqi views," he said. Cardenas, who served as Argentina's representative on the Security Council in 1994 and 1995, said that "any party has the legitimate right to request that whatever is going on, be at one point reviewed." "As to whether the specific lists of requests that has been handed over will be taken by the Security Council on a case by case basis as legitimate requests, it is not for us, as you may understand, to decide. This is a matter that is under the jurisdiction of the Security Council," Cardenas said. Cardenas said that one area where there might be some improvements is in the handling of the so-called "oil-for-food" program under which Iraq, under strict U.N. supervision, is allowed to sell $2,000 million of oil every six months to buy food, medicines, and other humanitarian supplies. Nevertheless, Eliasson said, "what we have been trying very energetically during these two days to convey to the Iraqi side is that for them to have a better hearing, a better arena, a better audience for their grievances, they would be very wise in coming ... back to the situation before October 29." "This would allow a more relaxed way to continue these efforts, with a deeper understanding of these grievances, which in some instances are legitimate. What is necessary is to see the return to compliance to Security Council resolution," Eliasson said. In Santiago, Chile, where he is on an official visit, Secretary General Kofi Annan said November 6 that he sent the team to Baghdad "for the purpose of seeking full compliance with relevant Security Council resolutions and with previously agreed arrangements underpinning the work of UNSCOM." Annan said that in the letter the envoys took to Baghdad, he asked Saddam Hussein "to respect the decisions of the U.N. and to change the policy that the Iraqi authorities have embarked on with regard to U.N. inspection." "The Security Council took decisions requiring the United Nations to disarm Iraq both in terms of the nuclear capability, chemical and biological weapons, and missiles capability," the secretary general said. "This exercise has been going on for about six and a half years." "In pursuit of that disarmament we came to a series of understandings with the Iraqi authorities which permitted the U.N. to go in with the requisite experts and disarm Iraq. So the current decision that some members of the UNSCOM team will not be allowed to operate in Iraq is in contravention of the agreements and the understandings we reached with the Iraqi authorities," Annan said.
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