U.N. Weapons Team to Ignore Iraqi Order

Raising the stakes against Baghdad, the United Nations said Friday that it will resume weapons inspections in Iraq next week despite an Iraqi order for Americans on the inspection team to leave.

The chief weapons inspector, Richard Butler of Australia, made the announcement after a two-hour closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Butler said that he will instruct his team in Baghdad to resume inspections Monday and that the eight Americans on duty there will participate.

He had suspended the inspections Wednesday after the Iraqi declaration.

“All nationalities, members of the [U.N.] team, will go to work and remain in Iraq,” he said.

Butler also told the council that he considers Iraq’s order for American team members to leave the country by next Wednesday a breach of the 1991 cease-fire that ended the Persian Gulf War, a move that could clear the way for military action against Iraq.

That drew a sharp rebuke from French Ambassador Alain Dejammet, who said only the council can declare a breach of the cease-fire agreement.

“Mr. Butler can give us his opinion,” Dejammet said. “But that’s only his opinion.”

Dejammet’s comments underlined continuing divisions within the 15-member council over Iraq. The council is united against Iraq’s move to expel the eight Americans on the 100-member inspection team in Baghdad, but there are broad differences on how to respond.

For example, on a visit to Cairo on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov spoke against use of military force and new sanctions, sharply reducing the council’s options. But he repeated Russia’s view that Iraq should cooperate fully with the United Nations.

The United States and Britain, however, have refused to rule out force and were prepared to level new sanctions against Iraq even before the latest dispute.

Facing such differences, the council did not decide on specific moves Friday. British Ambassador John Weston said major governments will use the weekend to “maximize the opportunities for diplomacy.”

The commission has been trying since 1991 to determine whether Iraq has complied with U.N. orders to destroy all long-range missiles and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

That is the main condition for lifting crippling economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, touching off the Gulf conflict.

Two weeks ago, Butler said Iraq was still hiding weapons and trying to impede inspections.

In Baghdad on Friday, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz said Iraq was sticking by its order for the Americans to leave by Wednesday.

In an interview with Qatar television, Aziz repeated accusations that the United States is using the inspections for intelligence-gathering.

“The United States does not want to lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq,” Aziz said. “Its aim is to change the national regime of Iraq.”

Those remarks appeared to indicate that Baghdad is prepared for a major showdown over the inspectors, believing that they will never certify Iraqi compliance and recommend an end to the sanctions.