U.N. Chief: Hope Dims : Peace Bid to Iraq Failed, Perez Says

U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar returned to New York today from Iraq saying his peace mission had failed and that he has almost lost hope that war in the Persian Gulf can be averted.

“I have done what I had to do,” Perez de Cuellar told reporters. But when asked if he had lost hope, the U.N. chief said: “In some ways, yes.”

Perez de Cuellar spoke to reporters at John F. Kennedy Airport after returning from Paris, where he discussed with French President Francois Mitterrand his meeting Sunday with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

“Unfortunately . . . I have not much in my hands,” he said.

He described his meeting with Hussein as “polite but unfortunately unsuccessful.”

It is perhaps too late to embark on other peace efforts, he told reporters.

“I will give the Security Council the details of what I have heard and what I have said,” he told reporters.

Perez de Cuellar is to address the Security Council tonight.

The U.N. chief, sounding his gloomiest yet about the Persian Gulf crisis, signaled that Hussein refused to compromise.

“You need two for tango. I wanted to dance, but I didn’t find any nice lady for dancing with,” he said.

“He (Hussein) didn’t express any desire to withdraw (from Kuwait) at all,” Perez de Cuellar added.

When asked if he had raised the possibility of a settlement of the Palestinian issue, Perez de Cuellar replied, “The question was not raised.”

Responding to criticism by Hussein that Perez de Cuellar had met President Bush repeatedly before his Iraqi initiative, the U.N. chief said: “I was not a messenger of President Bush. I was a messenger of the international community as a whole.”

Earlier, in Paris, Perez de Cuellar also expressed little hope of averting a gulf war.

“I am a diplomat, but I am also honest and direct, and I cannot conceal that I made no progress in Baghdad,” he said.

He flew to Iraq at the weekend where he met Hussein for 3 1/2 hours Sunday in a bid to wrest a settlement ahead of the U.N. deadline of midnight New York time Tuesday (8 a.m. Wednesday in Iraq) for possible war in the gulf.

“Unfortunately, at the end of my trip, I see no cause for optimism. I see no reason to have more hope than the day I left,” he told reporters.

He sounded his ominous warning as the Iraqi National Assembly unanimously backed Hussein’s “no concessions” stand on conquered Kuwait.

Asked in Paris if there was room for any new initiative, Perez de Cuellar said: “I don’t think so. Perhaps there are some personalities with no government support who would like to take some initiative.

“But I don’t think that from today, the 14th of January at 9 o’clock, there is much room for undertakings for diplomacy.”

Asked about a European Community initiative, he said, “It’s up to the Europeans to decide.”

The U.S.-led coalition ranged against Iraq in the gulf could go into action at any time after the deadline if Baghdad has not complied with the U.N. request to leave Kuwait.