Iraq, U.N. Chief to Discuss Arms Dispute

Iraq’s foreign minister will meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York next week to discuss Security Council demands for weapons inspections, U.N. officials announced Monday.

“The secretary-general expects to have a focused discussion on the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions, including the return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq,” a U.N. spokesman said.

The meeting with Annan was formally requested by Iraq and the Arab League last month. Naji Sabri, the Iraqi foreign minister, will travel to New York for the one-day meeting and will then leave for an Arab League summit in Beirut, U.N. officials said.

Expectations for the meeting are minimal, however, with diplomats here saying that the Iraqis have given no sign of dropping their objections to weapons inspections.

And despite deep disagreements within the Security Council over U.S. threats of possible military action against Iraq, the permanent council members are united in their position that Saddam Hussein’s government must fully comply with resolutions requiring cooperation with the U.N. inspection unit that it expelled more than three years ago.

“We think the conversation should be very short,” said a senior U.S. official here. “All they have to do is say that they will comply.”

The Security Council unanimously agreed in November to adopt a new U.S.-backed trade sanctions plan against Iraq that would streamline import procedures for most products while intensifying restrictions on goods with possible military applications. It is to take effect in June.

Bitterly opposed by Iraq, the plan aims to increase pressure on the country to admit weapons inspectors, while reducing international opposition to the sanctions on humanitarian grounds. Technical consultants from Russia and the United States have been finishing work on a detailed list of hundreds of specific items the Iraqis will not be allowed to buy without U.N. permission.

Although Iraq asked for the meeting, officials in Baghdad balked at Annan’s proposal of the March 7 date, diplomats here said. The Iraqis had hoped to postpone discussions until after the mid-March meeting of the Arab League; Iraq has asked the group to condemn the U.N. trade constraints.

“The Iraqis were told that if they were serious about having a discussion, it would be better to have it sooner than later,” said a U.N. official who asked not to be named.

Iraqi officials could not be reached for comment Monday.

Anxious to forestall a U.S. military strike, diplomats from Russia, France, China and Arab nations have been actively urging the Iraqis to open their doors to inspectors before the new sanctions go into effect, officials here said. Leaders of these countries have also publicly criticized U.S. warnings of possible military action against Iraq and opposed efforts to apply new global counter-terrorism initiatives against Baghdad.

“We are well aware of the countries whose citizens fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan and provided financing for them--and Iraq is not on that list,” Russian President Vladimir V. Putin said in Moscow recently. “But this does not mean the international community does not have any problems with Iraq. With our partners in the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council, we are actively discussing these issues and looking for ways to solve them.”

Annan, speaking during a visit to London on Monday, reiterated his oft-stated view that “any attack on Iraq at this stage would be unwise.”

The Iraqis, in recent private discussions with foreign governments, have repeated their refusal to permit inspections unless trade penalties are removed first, officials said.

“There is a lot of cynicism about the Iraqis around here right now,” said one diplomat who has negotiated with the Iraqis in the past.