[EXCERPTS]TEXT: UN SPOKESMAN'S DAILY BRIEFING FOR MARCH 24, 1998
United Nations -- Juan-Carlos Brandt, Senior Associate Spokesman for the Secretary General, briefed. Following is the UN text of the summary: (begin text) 24 March 1998 Press Briefing DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL Juan-Carlos Brandt, Senior Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General, told correspondents at today's noon briefing that 18 diplomats had arrived in Baghdad today. They would accompany the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to eight presidential sites in Iraq. With two diplomats already resident in Baghdad, the United Nations now had all the 20 diplomats identified by the Commissioner of the special group, Under-Secretary-General Jayantha Dhanapala. They would be briefed on their functions before starting their work later this week. The Executive Chairman of UNSCOM, Richard Butler, had concluded talks with the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz, in Baghdad today, Mr. Brandt continued. According to Mr. Butler, a new spirit of cooperation, which appeared since the Memorandum of Understanding was signed in February, was reflected in the talks. They talked about speeding up the inspection process so as to close the files on chemical weapons and missile areas. They also agreed to hold new technical evaluation meetings on chemical weapons and missile issues, Mr. Brandt said. As for biological weapons, they had agreed to wait for the results of the ongoing technical evaluation meeting in Vienna. Mr. Butler had indicated that UNSCOM would continue full inspections in Iraq, and expressed satisfaction with inspection 227, which was headed by Scott Ritter and involved in the inspection of the Department of Defence. Mr. Butler was scheduled to give a press conference tomorrow and would leave Iraq on Thursday, Mr. Brandt continued. The Executive Chairman had indicated and would state at that press conference that his next visit to Baghdad would be in June. ................ .................. (end text)
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