Iraq to hold talks with UN next month

Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, has agreed to meet UN secretary general Kofi Annan next month, possibly to resume talks on weapons of mass destruction.

A UN spokesman said Mr Annan expects to discuss the possible return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq, a condition for the lifting of sanctions against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

UN inspectors left Baghdad in December 1998, shortly before the US and Britain launched a wave of air strikes against the country.

Iraq refused to allow the inspectors to return, saying they were acting as spies for the Americans and the British.

Mr Sabri and Mr Annan are due to meet on March 7 and, if more meetings are needed, they will be held after April 5, following a meeting of the Arab League.

Talks last year between the Iraqis and the UN failed to make progress, but there may be a greater degree of urgency this time around as speculation grows about George W Bush’s plans for a military attack on Iraq.

Mr Bush has accused Saddam Hussein of trying to rebuild banned weapons programmes and of supporting terrorism.

The United Nations security council imposed sanctions on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The UN has refused to lift the sanctions until its inspectors can verify that Baghdad has dismantled its weapons of mass destruction.