02 November 1998
UN FACING MOST SERIOUS CRISIS WITH IRAQ, OFFICIALS SAY
(Iraqi decree affects long-term monitoring) (750) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The United Nations once again is facing a showdown with Iraq over the elimination of its weapons of mass destruction as Baghdad announced it was ending all cooperation with the UN weapons inspectors, including long-term monitoring. The Security Council October 31 rushed to condemn Iraq's action as "a flagrant violation" of the Gulf War cease-fire demands and said that it will decide in the coming days how to deal with the situation. The council has scheduled another session on the issue for November 3. In a statement to the press, Council President Jeremy Greenstock said that council members "demanded that the Iraqi leadership must rescind immediately and unconditionally today's decision as well as the decision of August 5, to limit cooperation with UNSCOM (UN Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi weapons) and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) ... and must resume immediate, complete and unconditional cooperation" with the two agencies. Greenstock also reminded Iraq that its decision also postponed any prospect of sanctions being lifted. Secretary General Kofi Annan called the decision "a serious breach and a major violation" of Security Council resolutions as well as of the so-called memorandum of understanding Iraq signed with the secretary general in February 1998. Annan, whose trip to Baghdad defused Iraq's last defiant stand against the UN weapons inspectors that began in late 1997, said that the Security Council will have to decide on the next step. "It's not up to me to decide whether I play a big role or not, it's the council's responsibility," he said. "I have stepped in periodically to help get us over a crisis, so I will see what the council wants to do." UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler said in a television interview that the situation is the most serious that the UN has faced so far in dealing with Iraq's disarmament. "Iraq is directly confronting the law-making of the (Security) Council" as well as extending its resistance to a new area -- long-term monitoring, Butler pointed out. "There are two stages. One, disarmament: we get rid of all the illegal and horrible weapons of the past. That's almost finished, but Iraq cut that off two months ago," Butler said. "Two, once they're disarmed, we monitor the long-term future to see they don't do it again. This decision (of October 31) says 'you're not going to be allowed to do that in the future,'" he continued. "That is serious," Butler said. "And I think that's what makes this the worst confrontation by Iraq with the Security Council that we've yet seen." Butler suggested that Iraq's latest decision not to cooperate any further with the UN was the result of a letter sent by the council to Iraq outlining the remaining steps in the disarmament process and the plans for a comprehensive review of Iraq's compliance with the cease-fire terms. Iraqi leaders objected to the letter, he said, "because it didn't promise in advance the result that they wanted. It was like saying, 'we're not going to play this game until we know in advance that we're going to be the winners.'" Iraq has contended that it has fulfilled its obligations and that sanctions should be lifted. Iraqi officials attending the opening of the General Assembly in September had lobbied intensively for a "comprehensive review," which, they said, would show that it had fulfilled its obligations. However, UNSOCOM has maintained that there is still disarmament work to be done in the areas of ballistic missiles and chemical and biological weapons before it can attest that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the programs that produce them have been eliminated. In the last year, special meetings of both chemical and biological weapons experts convened by UNSCOM at Iraq's insistence have determined that contrary to Baghdad's claims, there were still unanswered questions on both the programs. On October 31, Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council decided to suspend, stop or cease all UNSCOM activities including monitoring. UNSCOM officials in Baghdad were told that UN monitoring teams will not be allowed to conduct any activities and are to leave Iraq. UNSCOM monitoring cameras and other equipment can remain in place but visits to the cameras will not be allowed, Iraq said. IAEA monitoring activities will be allowed to continue provided they are independent from UNSCOM.
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