U.N. Official to Fly to Baghdad, Try to Defuse Inspection Crisis : Iraq: Ekeus says he will repeat their 3 choices for missile-testing sites: seals, cameras or destruction.

Rolf Ekeus, chairman of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq, received Security Council approval Monday to fly to Baghdad this week in an attempt to defuse the latest crisis between the Saddam Hussein government and U.N. inspectors.

But Ekeus and the council, according to diplomatic sources, made it clear that they do not intend to compromise on the principle that Iraq must comply with the U.N. resolutions mandating perpetual inspections to make sure it never rebuilds its war machine.

In fact, according to one diplomat, Ekeus will mainly repeat to the Iraqis that they have three choices for their missile-testing sites: monitor cameras, seals or destruction.

Ekeus told reporters that he intends “to make clear in detail where the council stands and where the United Nations stands.”

Diplomats expected Hussein to back down once again. “I have a feeling that the Iraqis are going to give in on this one,” said one.

Ekeus, a Swedish diplomat whose commission is charged with the elimination of all Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, told other diplomats that he expects to reach Baghdad on Thursday.

The latest confrontation stems from Iraq’s persistent refusal to fully accept those provisions of Security Council resolutions that require perpetual U.N. inspections. Officially, Iraq accepted these resolutions to end the Persian Gulf War. But in practice, Iraqi officials have balked at them as an infringement on Iraqi sovereignty.

In this case, U.N. inspectors wanted to place cameras at the Rafah and Yawm Azim missile sites to make sure that Iraq does not fire any missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometers (93 miles). Under the war-ending resolutions, Iraq can test and maintain only missiles with a range of less than 150 kilometers.

When Iraq refused to allow the cameras, Ekeus sent a second team of inspectors to seal the equipment at the ranges and thus prevent them from testing any missiles. An inspection team headed by Mark Silver, an American, tried to seal the equipment Sunday but was blocked.

Diplomats said that the only alternative to monitoring and sealing was destruction of the equipment itself by Iraq or, if necessary, by the United States and its allies.

Some diplomats expressed their belief that Iraq really does not want to escalate the present confrontation because of its negotiations with the United Nations about permission to sell some oil to obtain food and other humanitarian goods.

Teams of U.N. and Iraqi officials have been negotiating since last Wednesday over the sale of oil under a Security Council resolution passed in 1991. Under that resolution, Iraq could sell $1.6 billion worth of oil over six months provided that a third of the receipts were turned over to the United Nations to pay for inspections and war reparations.

Meanwhile, according to news reports, anxiety mounted in Baghdad over the latest confrontation between the Hussein regime and the United Nations. It has been only a little more than two weeks since U.S. cruise missiles hit the Baghdad headquarters of Iraqi intelligence in retaliation for an alleged Iraqi plot to kill former President George Bush. Several civilians were killed when some missiles missed the target and struck suburban homes.

And in another possible sign of Iraqi tension, Iran’s government-controlled news agency reported that more than 2,000 Iraqi Shiite Muslims had fled to Iran after attacks by Hussein’s troops in southern Iraq.