16 September 2002
Iraq Accepts Return of U.N. Weapons Inspectors, Annan Reports
(Secretary General credits President Bush's speech) (420) By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announced September 16 that he had received a letter from Iraq saying that it will "allow the return of inspectors without conditions to continue their work." After several days of intense negotiations among foreign ministers and heads of state in New York, especially from Arab nations, the secretary general announced that Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri and Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa delivered the letter late in the day. The secretary general said he passed the letter on to the Security Council. "I can confirm to you that I have received a letter from the Iraqi authorities conveying [Iraq's] decision to allow the return of the inspectors without conditions to continue their work and has also agreed that they are ready to start immediate discussions on the practical arrangements for the return of the inspectors to resume their work," the secretary general said in his short statement to the press. Annan credited President Bush's speech to the opening of the U.N. General Assembly September 12 with breaking the four-year impasse in the attempt to get U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq. In his speech President Bush challenged the international community to stand up to Iraq and force it to disarm, saying that Saddam Hussein poses a threat to peace and stability in the world. "If the regime defies us again, the world must move deliberately, decisively to hold Iraq to account," the president said. "A lot has happened in this building since Thursday," the secretary general said. "I believe the president's speech galvanized the international community. As most of you heard, almost every speaker in the General Assembly urged Iraq to accept the return of the inspectors." He also thanked Moussa "for his strenuous efforts in helping convince Iraq to allow the return of the inspectors." Hans Blix, executive chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) has said that his team is ready to work out the details of the weapons inspectors return with Baghdad. The weapons inspectors have already been hired, trained, and are waiting in their respective countries to be activated for work in Iraq, he said. Earlier in the day U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the United States was moving ahead in negotiations on a strong U.N. Security Council resolution to force Iraq to disarm and expected it to be completed quickly. "We'll see whether or not Iraq understands the seriousness of the position it is in and whether it will respond to this direction from the Security Council," Powell had said. (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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