Annan holds 'positive and constructive' talks with Iraq

Iraq’s foreign minister and the UN secretary-general agreed that their first high-level talks in a year got off to a ‘‘positive and constructive’’ start, but there was no sign Iraq would allow UN weapons inspectors back in the country.

No major breakthrough had been expected yesterday, and Foreign Minister Naji Sabri announced that the dialogue would continue in mid-April.

‘‘I am always optimistic,’’ Sabri said as he left UN headquarters.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan found the talks ‘‘frank and useful’’, noting that ‘‘core issues’’ were addressed including the return of UN inspectors, the return of property seized by Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the fate of hundreds of missing Iraqis and Kuwaitis, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

Both sides agreed to find a way to return some looted Kuwaiti property through the United Nations, he added.

The long-awaited meeting, initiated by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, began with an unusual one-on-one session between the Iraqi minister and UN chief Kofi Annan that lasted about 20 minutes, a signal of the high stakes.

The United States has demanded the return of UN inspectors, accused Iraq of being part of an ‘‘axis of evil’’ supporting terrorism, and hinted that it might expand its war on terrorism to the oil-rich Middle East nation.

UN sources said ‘‘the body language’’ at the meeting was good, but it wasn’t clear whether Iraq was stringing along the talks to keep the Americans from attacking, or whether Baghdad was seriously interested in looking for a way to allow the inspectors back.

Yesterday marked the first high-level UN-Iraq talks since late February 2001. No real progress was reported at those meetings over the same sanctions and weapons inspections issues, and there was no follow-up.

Annan’s agreement yesterday to a mid-April meeting with an agenda focusing on the key issues was seen as a positive outcome by some diplomats.

But the outcome clearly wasn’t what the United States wanted.

‘‘It’s clear that Iraq didn’t come to the meeting ready to comply with UN resolutions, and that’s the only question we have. When are they going to comply?’’ a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some diplomats believe the US pressure brought the Iraqi minister to New York to try to resolve the festering dispute with the council. Iraq’s UN Ambassador Mohammad Al-Douri vehemently denied it, saying the talks have ‘‘nothing to do with the... American threat.’’

At issue are UN sanctions imposed on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait that can’t be lifted until UN weapons inspectors certify that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles have been eliminated.

The inspectors left ahead of US and British airstrikes in December 1998 and Iraq has barred them from returning, insisting it has complied with Security Council resolutions and demanding that the embargoes be lifted.

On the eve of the talks, US officials hurled a new accusation, charging that Iraq is illegally trying to build up its military by converting about 1,000 trucks for military use in violation of sanctions.

Before the talks began, Annan expressed hope that the differences could be resolved diplomatically, saying he wanted to avert any widening of the Middle East conflict.

‘‘I hope we will find a constructive way to begin the inspections so they (the Iraqis) will see a light at the end of the tunnel,’’ the secretary-general told the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday evening.

At the end of the morning talks, which lasted two hours, both sides used the same words to describe the two-hour meeting: ‘‘positive’’ and ‘‘constructive’’.

After a second meeting in the afternoon that lasted a little less than an hour, Sabri used the same words again.

‘‘We had a constructive and positive exchange of views on various issues related to the Iraq-UN relationship,’’ he said, explaining that each side had raised its concerns.

‘‘Hopefully we shall continue in the same spirit and effort,’’ said Sabri, who was scheduled to leave New York last night and return home for consultations.

Eckhard said the Iraqi side raised a number of concerns including the lifting of sanctions, the so-called ‘‘no-fly zones’’ in northern and southern Iraq enforced by US and British aircraft, and establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

For the first time, both sides included weapons experts in their delegations.

Annan said he hoped the presence of chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and Iraq’s main liaison with UN inspectors, Gen Hussam Mohammed Amin, would enable both sides to get into the subject of returning weapons inspectors.