A rchive Date
[ 05-03-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.N ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/03/05/36671-ap.html
Blix sees Iraqi compliance
By EDITH M. LEDERER - Associated Press
Wed, March 5, 2003
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The chief U.N. weapons inspector said Wednesday that Iraq was showing signs of complying with its obligations to disarm and was cooperating with inspectors in some areas.
Hans Blix said Iraq's destruction of Al Samoud 2 missiles was "real disarmament." "Here weapons that can be used in war are being destroyed in fairly large quantities."
He also said seven Iraqi scientists have submitted to private interviews under his terms. Previously, scientists had either been questioned in the presence of Iraqi government officials or had tape-recorded the interviews. Blix said that he has asked an Arab country, which he did not identify, to host inspectors and potential Iraqi scientists who agree to be interviewed outside Iraq.
He said Cyprus was also a possible location for conducting interviews and that several countries had offered asylum for any scientists who want to leave Iraq.
But the chief inspector said some of his weapons experts were skeptical of Iraq's claim that the inspectors could verify Baghdad's claims to have dumped its biological materials more than a decade ago by digging in areas where the Iraqis say the poisons were poured into the ground.
Blix couldn't say whether he thought inspections would continue through the summer, given the massive U.S. troop build-up in the region and the talk of war.
"We don't know what's going to happen," he said, adding that his teams have an evacuation plan should they need to leave Baghdad on short notice.
On Tuesday, the bitterly divided Security Council came under pressure from Secretary-General Kofi Annan to find a compromise plan on efforts to strip Saddam of his banned weapons.
But key council powers are polarized over whether Iraq should be given more time to eliminate all weapons of mass destruction, and they've shown no sign of moving toward a compromise.
France, Russia and Germany, who want U.N. weapons inspections to continue, issued a joint statement saying they will not allow the Security Council to approve a U.S.-backed resolution that "authorizes resorting to force" against Iraq.
The statement doesn't mention the word "veto" and foreign ministers from the three countries avoided its use. But when asked whether the statement meant a veto, Germany's U.N. Ambassador Gunter Pleuger reread the statement saying the three countries "will not allow" a resolution to pass. "For everybody who can read or understand ... Isn't that clear?," Pleuger asked.
In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the outcome of a vote. President Bush is "confident in the end of the ultimate outcome" of the resolution debate, he said.
Annan, who insists that war must be a last resort, said after a private luncheon Tuesday with the 15 council ambassadors that he is "optimistic" they can find common ground. Several council members expressed strong doubts, however, partly because the United States won't negotiate the substance of its resolution calling for U.N. backing for military action against Saddam.
With more than 230,000 U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf and ideal fighting weather disappearing day by day, the United States has been lobbying intensively for U.N. support for military action against Iraq. But Washington still doesn't have the nine "yes" votes it needs, just co-sponsors Britain and Spain and probably Bulgaria, according to supporters and opponents.
Facing a hardened stand from Russia, which indicated Tuesday it might veto the resolution, the Bush administration for the first time left open the possibility it would not call for a vote, though U.S. officials indicated they want to move ahead probably next week.
For many council members, a key ingredient in deciding whether to give a green light to a war against Iraq will be Friday's reports to the Security Council by Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the top nuclear watchdog.
The French and Germans pressed for Friday's meeting to be a ministerial session that would be open - rather than an ambassadorial-level meeting behind closed doors.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview aired Tuesday that the United States would make a decision early next week "depending on what we heard - on when we want to bring the resolution to a vote." He predicted "a difficult vote."
In appealing for a compromise, Annan called on the 15 nations to unite as they did when the council unanimously adopted a resolution on Nov. 8 giving Iraq a final opportunity to disarm or face "serious consequences."
"It's not there today, but it's not excluded that it will come, and we shouldn't forget that the council has seen these divisions before, and has managed to pull itself together and find a way forward," Annan said.
"I am optimistic," the secretary-general added.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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