16 October 2002
U.N.'s Annan Says Iraqi Weapons Inspections Must Be Effective, Credible
(Security Council holds debate on new resolution) (820) By Judy Aita Washington File Staff Writer United Nations -- The Security Council opened a two-day debate on Iraq October 16 in an effort to get the views of the international community before deciding how to ensure Iraq's compliance with its obligations to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction and other agreements it made at the end of the Gulf war. More than 50 nations and international organizations were scheduled to address the council on whether it should adopt a new resolution spelling out firmer rules under which to conduct inspections and whether to include a threat of use of force should Iraq fail to comply. The 15 council members -- Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Colombia, France, Guinea, Ireland, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Syria, United Kingdom, and the United States -- will speak at the end of the debate. Council members are still working on a draft resolution and have given no indication when they would be ready to take a decision. Calling Iraq's recent decision to readmit weapons inspectors "an important first step, but only a first step," Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the inspectors "must have unfettered access and this council will expect nothing less." "It may well choose to pass a new resolution strengthening the inspectors' hands, so that there are no weaknesses or ambiguities," the secretary general said. "I consider that such a step would be appropriate." The new measures, he said, "must be firm, effective, credible and reasonable. If Iraq fails to make use of this last chance, and defiance continues, the council will have to face its responsibilities." Annan, who is traveling in China, sent his strong message to the Security Council through Deputy Secretary General Louise Frechette. Calling Iraq's failure to comply with the council's resolutions since 1991 "one of the gravest and most serious" situations today, Annan stressed that the council must remain unified and urged the council to work in unison. "If you allow yourselves to be divided, the authority and credibility of this organization will undoubtedly suffer. But if you act in unison, you will have greater impact, and a better chance of achieving your objective which must be a comprehensive solution that includes the suspension and eventual ending of sanctions," he said. The meeting was requested by the non-aligned movement to voice concerns over proposals that open up the possibility of war and to offer encouragement to the Security Council to seize the opportunity to find a lasting peaceful solution to the situation, said South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, chairman of the group. During the first day of debate the council heard a wide range of views from the urging of Kumalo and Arab delegates to allow the weapons inspectors to return to Iraq to resume their work without delay and without a new resolution to calls to exert pressure on Iraq given its past history with the weapons inspectors. Japanese Ambassador Koichi Haraguchi emphasized that the issue "should be considered not as an issue of Iraq versus certain countries, but as one facing the international community as a whole." "Any doubts regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq should be completely resolved, and for that objective, effective and credible inspections must be guaranteed...including unfettered access to the presidential sites," Haraguchi said. Australian Ambassador John Dauth said that the international community has very good grounds for pressing Iraq on its weapons of mass destruction. "Iraq today poses a clear danger to international security because it has sought to acquire weapons of mass destruction and has a well established record of using them against its neighbors, and indeed against its own people," Dauth said. If the council does not act, he said, it risks that Iraq will again be able to threaten its neighbors with a full suite of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons or give such weapons to terrorist groups. Urging the council to pass "a new and robust" resolution that provides "the strongest possible basis for unconditional and unfettered inspections in Iraq," the Australian ambassador said that "it is only through such inspections that the international community can be completely satisfied that Iraq no longer poses a threat to international security and this almost 12-year-long saga can be brought to an end." Kuwaiti Ambassador Mohammad Abulhasan told the council that his government "feels especially strong about the importance of action within the United Nations framework simply because without such a framework Kuwait would probably not have been liberated from Iraqi occupation as achieved in 1991 nor the issues emanating from that occupation and are still pending with Iraq would have assumed such great international significance." He called on the government of Iraq to save its people from the potential danger of war by fully implementing all Security Council resolutions "without a la carte selectivity or procrastination and by putting the welfare of the population ahead of all narrow interest." Any use of force must be a last resort, within the U.N. framework, and only after all other available means have been exhausted, Abulhasan 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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