UN nuclear chief says Iraq must make concessions

The chief of the UN nuclear agency today said any new visit to Baghdad by himself or Hans Blix had to be linked to major concessions by the Iraqis.

Mohamed ElBaradei said Iraq needed to “move forward” and remove major obstacles to the inspectors’ hunt for banned weapons of mass destruction.

Crucial issues were their right to interview scientists in private and the use of high altitude surveillance planes by the inspection team, he said.

“We need to make sure before we go that they are ready to move forward on these issues,” said ElBaradei at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

“We will have first to see what they are offering before we decide on the visit.”

ElBaradei spoke a day after Iraq issued an invitation to him and Blix to return to Baghdad for more talks before their next report to the UN Security Council on February 14.

The two head the UN inspection teams seeking evidence of hidden nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programmes.

ElBaradei said they would both be seeking meetings with Iraq’s top leadership.

“It is very important that we meet at the highest level of the leadership, and hear from them a clear commitment that they are ready to be fully transparent,” he said.

While Blix and ElBaradei have met senior Iraqi officials before, his comments suggested they were seeking talks on a much higher level – perhaps with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein himself.

The planned visit comes at a critical time, with the US signalling increased impatience with more than two months of UN inspections and saying it has the right to act militarily against Baghdad – even without a UN resolution.

Seeking to build support for the US stance, US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said he will present evidence to the Security Council on February 5 that would “fill in some of the gaps” between what the US knew and what has been reported by Blix and ElBaradei.