19 August 2002
Security Council Refuses to Discuss Iraqi Complaints
(Baghdad evades discussions on return of weapons inspectors) (1220) By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The Security Council said August 19 that it has "no intention of taking up the matter" of Iraq's letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan on weapons inspections. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard announced August 19 that the president of the Security Council had informed the secretary general's office that the council would not be holding any consultations on the latest exchange of letters between the secretary general and Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri. The United States holds the Security Council presidency for the month of August. The chief U.S. envoy to the U.N., John Negroponte, has been presiding over the council's deliberations for the month. In a six-page letter to the secretary general August 16, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri essentially resubmitted the invitation he extended to the United Nations earlier in the month to hold technical talks on disarmament issues -- a proposal that was rejected by the United Nations. Iraq had invited Hans Blix, the executive chairman of the U.N. Monitoring and Verification Mission (UNMOVIC), to review "the progress made in disarmament between May 1991 and December 1998" to determine the outstanding issues. Baghdad wants UNMOVIC to take stock of the disarmament tasks that have been carried out and discuss ways to complete the tasks that were unfinished when the inspectors were expelled in 1998. Annan rejected that proposal, saying that while he welcomed the Iraqi letter, it dealt "obviously with the wrong work program." The United Nations is willing to continue talks on the return of weapons inspectors, but on the terms set out by the Security Council, not Baghdad, he said. In his reply to the Iraqi foreign minister's invitation, the secretary general said that the first step in Iraq's resolving its issues with the United Nations must be the return of the weapons inspectors and he looked forward to a formal invitation to U.N. inspectors to return to the country. That invitation was not extended in Iraq's latest response. After council consultations on the initial letter August 6, Negroponte said that the council's 15 members were "on the same page as far as what is required of Iraq in regard to next steps and the full implementation of existing Security Council resolutions." Iraq's invitation, Negroponte said, "seeks to talk about a lot of political or extraneous issues before getting to the issue of the practical arrangements that are needed in order to reinstate inspections." Reinstating weapons inspections is the first priority according to the work plan set out by the council in resolution 1284, passed in 1999. The resolution calls for UNMOVIC inspectors to spend 60 days conducting active inspections to determine what has changed since U.N. weapons inspectors were expelled in 1998 and what needs to be done for Iraq to be rid of all chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and their programs; discuss a work program with Iraq; and then report to the Security Council. Blix has refused to meet with the Iraqis under the conditions Sabri outlined, pointing out that the Security Council's instructions are for UNMOVIC weapons inspectors to return to Iraq to determine what remains to be done and then report to the Security Council. There have been no U.N. weapons inspections or monitoring since the experts were expelled in December 1998. The latest Iraqi letter was forwarded to the secretary general who is vacationing in his native Ghana. "The secretary general's team is studying the long text and has no comment on it at this time," Eckhard said at the daily U.N. briefing August 19. Most of the six-page Iraqi letter was devoted to criticism of the United States since Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, especially for the continuing economic sanctions imposed by the Security Council after the invasion. The foreign minister also blamed the United States for using Security Council resolutions "to cover illegal activities violating international law" and seriously harming the credibility of the United Nations. Iraq wants the Security Council to answer 19 questions it posed in March on the council's position "regarding its obligations towards Iraq under the provisions of its own resolutions." The foreign minister said, "responses by the Security Council to our questions were necessary in order to provide the Iraqi leaders with sufficient information to enable them to take appropriate decisions concerning the vital interests, security, sovereignty, and independence of Iraq." The 19 questions include such issues as what guarantees would the U.N. offer that the U.S. would not interfere; is the council subject to U.S. interpretation of council resolutions; and what are the guarantees that the UNMOVIC chief and inspectors would not abuse their authority. The council has refused to answer the questions. During the latest series of talks, the foreign minister said, "we stated that the experiences of the past 11 years had demonstrated without any shadow of a doubt that no purpose was served when the Security Council, under the pressure of the United States, concentrated on a single element -- weapons inspection and monitoring -- and neglected the links between this element and the other requirements specified in council resolutions." Sabri was also extremely critical of the chairman of the former U.N. weapons inspection regime (UNSCOM), Richard Butler, calling him a "suspicious person." The foreign minister criticized the current executive chairman of UNSCOM's successor, UNMOVIC. Blix's refusal to discuss the remaining disarmament issues, Sabri aid, "reminds us of the bitter experience that we, along with the United Nations, had with Mr. Richard Butler ... who, through his acts, statements and decisions exceeded the powers of the United Nations Secretariat and the Security Council." The proposed talks, the foreign minister said, were "designed to avoid the differences of views and the crises which marked the work of the inspectors during the period from 1991 to 1998." The first measure that should be carried out is that the United States and United Kingdom end the air exclusion zones in the northern Kurdish area and southern Shi'ite areas, Sabri also said. Next, the "arbitrary compensation imposed on Iraq" for the damages and hardship caused by the invasion should be reconsidered. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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