The Security Council refused Monday to take up Iraq's response to U.N. demands that it allow weapons inspectors back in the country. An Iraqi letter sent Friday to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan included neither an acceptance of the roadmap for the return of the inspectors nor a formal invitation to resume inspections.
Instead, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told Annan that Iraq wants to continue a dialogue with the United Nations on the return of inspectors — but with conditions that Annan already rejected. "The Security Council has no plans to take up the Iraqi response," said a U.S. official, according to AP. "The Security Council has been quite clear on Iraq's obligations to admit inspectors into the country anyplace, anytime with no conditions."
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said: "The Security Council presidency has informed us that at this time the council has no intention of picking up the matter of foreign minister's reply to the secretary general."
Meanwhile, Sabri accused the chief UN arms inspector, Hans Blix, of exceeding his mandate, and said that "technical discussions" were the only way to resolve issues which have placed Iraq in the target sights of the United States. "By his schemes, Hans Blix has surpassed his prerogatives and is echoing the positions of the United States," Sabri told the Al-Iraq satellite channel. "We are convinced technical discussions are the way to fix this problem and to find a common ground" between Baghdad and the United Nations, he said.
According to AFP, Sabri was reacting to comments by Blix, the head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), on Friday that Iraq must let him start work before he could assess what it needs to do to satisfy the UN Security Council that it has disarmed. (Albawaba.com)
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