UN seeks fresh report from Blix

THE United Nations has asked for a fresh report from its chief weapons inspector Hans Blix as it considers sending teams back to Iraq.

A majority of the Security Council, including the Washington's main war ally Britain, favours resuming the UN searches for Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction. The US has so far resisted the return of the UN inspectors, who were withdrawn from Iraq shortly before the US-led coalition started bombing Baghdad.

A couple of people of the Unmovic staff have been approached and asked to join the American team, but they have so far declined. Washington has deployed its own teams to look for weapons, which it cited as the key reason for launching war.

Providing evidence of banned arms is seen as crucial for justifying the decision to attack Iraq, but there have been no confirmed finds of illicit materials.

The return of the UN inspectors forms part of a broader argument about the role of the international body in Iraq now that much of the fighting is over.

The US wants to take the leading role in reconstructing post-war Iraq, to the opposition of countries like France and Germany which want a significant UN role.

Mr Blix, who heads the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) has been invited to update the Security Council on April 22, according to the body's president, Mexico's Adolfo Aguilar Zinser.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said Unmovic's mandate to search for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in Iraq remains valid. His spokeswoman, Hua Jiang, added that, when Mr Annan pulled the inspectors out of Iraq, "he did say that as soon as the security situation allows, the inspectors will go back and that's what he plans to do". Mr Blix says that inspectors could return at short notice.

The US-led coalition decided it was necessary to invade to disarm Iraq rather than allow the UN inspectors more time to search for the banned weapons it said the regime had and was developing. However, UN certification that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction is necessary for international sanctions to be lifted a move seen as important in the rebuilding of the country.

There have been many alerts over possible finds of banned weapons since the coalition forces entered Iraq, but none have been confirmed. US officials have speculated that materials, technology and documents may have been moved across the border to Syria and is now threatening that country with sanctions. However, both US political and military leaders say they will find weapons of mass destruction inside Iraq though it may take a long time to check what General Tommy Franks called "potentially thousands" of sites.

A former UN inspector with teams withdrawn from Iraq in 1998, Charles Duelfer, is leading scientists checking out suspicious finds by the US military.

Unmovic spokesman Ewen Buchanan said there had been no official approach from the US "parallel team" to share documents or intelligence: "A couple of people of the Unmovic staff have been approached and asked to join the American team, but they have so far declined."