Annan gives Iraq terms over weapon inspectors

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told Iraq in a no-nonsense letter that if it wants weapons inspectors to return, it must accept the Security Council’s terms - and he urged Baghdad to say yes.

Annan was responding to Iraq’s invitation last week for chief inspector Hans Blix to visit Baghdad for technical talks which for the first time mentioned the return of inspectors who have been barred from the country for nearly four years.

In his reply yesterday, the secretary-general insisted that Iraq must follow the roadmap laid out by the Security Council and rejected its proposal to deal with outstanding issues about its alleged weapons of mass destruction.

The return of inspectors is a key demand of the Security Council and especially of the United States, which has accused Iraq of trying to rebuild its banned weapons programs and of supporting terrorism.

US President George Bush, who has called for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to be replaced, has threatened unspecified consequences if inspectors are not allowed to return.

With members of the US Congress and senior US officials talking openly about war with Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s government is facing increasing pressure to let the inspectors back but whether Iraq will agree to the Security Council’s terms remains to be seen.

‘‘I hope once they’ve read the letter, they will find their way to become more forthcoming,’’ Annan said before sending the reply.

In the letter, he said he looked forward to Iraq accepting the Security Council’s ‘‘sequence of steps’’ for the resumption of inspectors and issuing a formal invitation for the UN inspection agency to return.

Annan stressed that ‘‘a speedy resumption of inspections’’ would help resolve all remaining issues about Iraq’s weapons programs, which must be dismantled under Security Council resolutions.

Annan discussed the invitation to Blix with the 15-member Security Council on Monday and spoke to the chief inspector, who is on holiday in Sweden, before sending the letter through Iraq’s UN Mission.

‘‘I have no problem with discussions at the technical level. But my concern is the agenda and how it proceeds,’’ Annan said. ‘‘I think the letter will clarify that we welcome the invitation, but that we would want to proceed along other lines.’’

In the letter, Annan did not refer directly to the invitation except to note that Blix called last month for expert talks with Iraq on practical arrangements to resume inspections as ‘‘the most direct and appropriate way to resume the inspection process.’’

Blix told Swedish Radio: ‘‘We want discussions with them about practical arrangements: How we fly in, what authorities we deal with there. We don’t want conflict once we’re in.’’

A 1999 Security Council resolution requires UN weapons inspectors to visit Iraq and then determine within 60 days what questions Iraq still must answer about its chemical, biological, nuclear and missile programs. The Security Council must approve the list of outstanding issues.

Annan cited the provisions of this resolution in the letter, stressing that the council had clearly instructed the UN inspection agency to start its work by identifying the outstanding disarmament tasks that Iraq must fulfil.

He noted that Blix was ready to send the list of outstanding issues to the Iraqi government for comment before his report went to the Security Council.

‘‘It should therefore be possible at that time for Iraq to express its views and to provide any additional information which may be relevant,’’ Annan said.

Iraq had warned in a follow-up note to council members that unless the outstanding issues were resolved before inspectors returned there would be a repetition of the crises over inspections that took place from 1991 to 1998.

A Western diplomat called the letter ‘‘a certain defeat for the Iraqi movement to try to negotiate the return of inspectors into their country’’. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity.

Security Council sanctions imposed after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until UN inspectors certify that its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons have been destroyed along with the long-range missiles to deliver them.