Iran, Iraq Hold First Face-to-Face Meeting : U.N. Leader Pleased Although Session Lasts Only 2 Hours

Direct peace talks between Iran and Iraq lasted only two hours Thursday before negotiators split off to separate rooms to consult with their capitals.

U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar said he was pleased with the “serious beginning” to the first meeting between the two governments since the costly Persian Gulf War began eight years ago.

“We have worked very well, and now the parties have decided to consult with their authorities in Tehran and Baghdad,” Perez de Cuellar said Thursday night as he left the U.N. Palais des Nations complex where the talks are being held.

He said the delegations from the two Middle East neighbors, whose oil-rich economies have been drained by the long and bitter war, will reconvene again this morning.

2 Hours Face to Face

Although the two delegations remained in session for more than six hours, only two hours was spent face to face as outlined in the original plan for the U.N.-sponsored talks. The rest of the time involved Perez de Cuellar shuttling between the delegations in separate rooms, similar to the indirect format of the Afghan peace talks held in recent years.

After the first two hours, U.N. spokesman Francois Giuliani announced that the delegations would take a break and then would return to direct talks. Later, he said the direct talks had been “suspended” and that the secretary general was meeting with the parties in separate rooms.

“It is not a bad sign. It is not a good sign,” Giuliani said. “It is the normal process of negotiation.”

However, any hopes for an early settlement to the war, in which more than 1 million people have died, were dampened somewhat by the obviously cautious and cumbersome format of the talks.

All Must Be Translated

For one thing, every statement in English by Perez de Cuellar then had to be carefully translated into Persian and Arabic before the meeting could proceed.

Perez de Cuellar himself has said the talks may take years and suggested again Thursday that he may have to nominate a candidate to replace him as moderator of the negotiations.

“There is no rush, no impatience,” he declared.

One positive aspect of the talks Thursday was the composition of the two negotiating parties, and nearly all of the delegates have extensive professional and diplomatic experience. U.N. officials say they are hopeful that this means the discussions will proceed in a controlled fashion, as free as possible from the wild rhetoric and religious zealotry that has marked much of the conflict.

‘Judge Blood’ Not There

To what they described as their great relief, one man who accompanied the Iranian party to Geneva was not present in the conference room. Sadegh Khalkhali, an Islamic judge who has earned the nickname “Judge Blood” for the number of death sentences he issued from his court, was not in sight. The one mullah (Islamic priest) in the delegation, Hassan Rouhani, is considered to be more moderate.

An early sticking point in the talks appears to involve the agenda for items to be broached in the meetings. Iraq had previously agreed to an Iranian demand that an independent determination of fault in the conflict be established as a first item of business.

But now, its battlefield fortunes bolstered recently by the devastating use of poison and nerve gases, Iraq is pushing for a decision on control of the Shatt al Arab waterway--the disputed boundary between the two countries--as the talks’ first priority.

Tension in the Room

There was tension in the high-ceilinged U.N. council chamber as the two delegations entered simultaneously Thursday. The 13-man Iranian delegation is led by Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, a thin, unsmiling pediatrician-turned-diplomat, while the 15-member Iraqi delegation is headed by Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz.

The nine principal Iranian delegates, including Rouhani, were dressed almost identically with tieless white shirts buttoned at the collar. All had close-cropped beards.

In contrast, Aziz, whose group all wore Western-style suits and ties, nodded at Velayati and blurted a nervous “hello” that echoed in the cavernous meeting room. Aziz, a Christian scholar of English literature, then lit a cigar.

At the end of the day Thursday, despite obvious hitches in the talks, Perez de Cuellar appeared relieved that the two belligerents were still in Geneva and had agreed to meet again.

“It is for me a serious pleasure that both sides are here and have decided to discuss seriously,” he said.