Aid Workers Get Back to Business in Baghdad

BAGHDAD — The first contingent of 30 evacuated U.N. humanitarian aid workers returned to headquarters in the Iraqi capital Monday night, the first sign that normal operations were resuming here after two weeks of tense standoff between Iraq and the U.N. Security Council.

But the real test of whether the crisis has passed comes today, when 84 weapons inspectors from UNSCOM, the U.N. Special Commission, are due to return for what is expected to be a tough round of arms monitoring designed to determine whether Iraq intends to abide by U.N. resolutions.

The inspectors were scheduled to fly in from their field headquarters in Bahrain, where they have stayed since their abrupt pullout from Baghdad on Wednesday.

The inspectors, whose work is to seek out and eliminate Iraq’s nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic weaponry, had been at the center of the dispute between Iraq and the United Nations.

Iraq had steadily limited their activities over recent months, and U.S. and British forces were threatening military action to compel the Iraqis to continue cooperating with UNSCOM.

Iraq reversed itself Saturday and agreed to work with UNSCOM again. That decision allowed Iraq to escape a Western military attack that seemed likely to deliver the strongest blow against the regime of President Saddam Hussein since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Residents of Iraq voiced widespread relief Monday that the threat of armed force had been defused. But a U.N. official warned Iraq that it should cooperate with the returning weapons inspectors for its own good.

“Many members of the Security Council want the question of Iraq’s cooperation with the inspectors to be tested and proved on the ground,” said Prakash Shah, the U.N. secretary-general’s special envoy to Iraq.

He said that if Iraq cooperates “fully and unreservedly,” it will be entitled to a comprehensive review of its disarmament record. Such a review could constitute a first step toward establishing a timetable to lift the 8-year-old economic sanctions on Iraq and rehabilitate it on the world stage.

In Washington, President Clinton said that if Iraq’s leader keeps his pledge to cooperate, the world may soon be free of the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

“The world is watching Saddam Hussein to see if he follows the words he uttered with deeds,” Clinton said. “Our forces remain strong and ready if he does not.”

White House officials said they expect the U.N. team to stage an early test of Iraq’s intentions. But the officials said it will be up to Richard Butler, the chief arms inspector, to judge whether Iraq allows full access after blocking the inspections for most of this year.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced a halt to the military buildup in the Gulf. But he said Washington will maintain a force in the region capable of swift military action in case Iraq again blocks the arms inspectors.

How cooperative Iraq intends to be remained open to question. One diplomat noted that at a closed meeting between the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and members of the diplomatic corps, a high-level ministry official accused the West of wanting “to humiliate us.”

If that happens, he said, “they are not going to get any more” concessions from Iraq.

Iraqi newspapers Monday praised Hussein for making the last-minute retreat to avoid a military attack. They also accused the United States of arrogance for Clinton’s remarks Sunday that he would like to see a new, more democratic government in Baghdad.

Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz accused Clinton of violating existing U.N. resolutions that confirm the national sovereignty of Iraq.

On their return Monday night, the U.N. humanitarian aid workers--who work separately from the weapons inspectors but out of the same building--appeared pleased.

“All I can say is that we’re happy to be back,” Bob Odeh, a Canadian staff member, said after he emerged from a white U.N. plane at the Habbaniyah military airport, 50 miles west of Baghdad. “We have lots of humanitarian work to do.”

An additional 120 humanitarian aid workers were returning by bus and car from Amman, Jordan, and were not due to complete their 600-mile journey until early today.

About 50 essential U.N. workers remained in Baghdad throughout the crisis.

British contract employees from Lloyds Register, whose job is to check supplies entering Iraq under the U.N.’s oil-for-food program, also resumed their work Monday.

According to Eric Falt, a U.N. spokesman here, the disruption caused by the brief absence of the humanitarian aid workers and the Lloyds employees did not have a serious impact on the flow of food and medicine.