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Several Security Council members today called for the continuation,
enhancement and acceleration of inspections in Iraq after hearing reports
from two top United Nations disarmament officials on efforts to rid the
country of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Speaking at the outset of the ministerial-level meeting, German Foreign
Minister Joschka Fischer said given the current progress reported by the
inspectors there was no need for a second resolution declaring that Iraq had
failed to take the final opportunity offered it in resolution 1441 to disarm.
He noted that the inspections could not go on forever but that the
alternatives were clear, disarmament of Iraq by war or disarmament by
exhausting all peaceful means. "The progress of the last few days have
shown we have efficient alternatives to war in Iraq," Mr. Fischer said.
"By taking this path we will strengthen the relevance of the United
Nations and the Security Council."
Syria's Foreign Minister, Farouk Al-Shara, also noted the elements in the
inspectors' report that referred to recent Iraqi cooperation. "If given
that Security Council resolution 1441 does not set a time frame for the
inspectors' work, what then could be the background of the arguments that
the time is up and that Iraq had only days left to comply or else?" he
said.
Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez of Mexico regretted Iraq's "lack
of active, immediate and effective cooperation," called on it to "radically
change its attitude" and stressed the need to search for the widest
consensus among Council members. "Mexico is convinced that we have to
explore all paths and take advantage of all opportunities to solve this
issue through a peaceful way," he said.
For his part, Igor Ivanov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, asked
whether it was now reasonable, in view of the reported progress, to halt the
inspections, adding that the Council did not need new resolutions. "We
have enough of those," he said. "We now need active support of the
inspectors as they carry out their tasks."
Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said France, as a permanent member of
the Security Council, would not allow passage of a resolution that
automatically authorized use of force. He proposed a three-point plan for
continued inspections: that inspectors set a priority list of disarmament
tasks, that they give a progress report every three weeks and that full
implementation be assessed after 120 days as prescribed by Council
resolution 1284, or even sooner if inspectors deem it feasible.
"The military agenda must not dictate the calendar of inspections,"
Mr. Villepin said. "We agree to timetables and to an accelerated
calendar. But we cannot accept an ultimatum as the inspectors are reporting
cooperation. That would mean war."
The Foreign Minister of China, Tang Jiaxuan, noted the progress reported by
the inspectors and urged Iraq to show fuller cooperation. "We believe
that as long as we stick to the road of political settlement, the goal of
destroying Iraq's WMD could still be obtained," he said. "Under
the current circumstances there is no reason to shut the door to peace.
Therefore we are not in favour of a new resolution, particularly one
authorizing the use of force."
Soledad Alvear Valenzuela, Foreign Minister of Chile, called on Iraq to
cooperate more fully, saying that even at this late stage its attitude was
insufficient. But today's reports indicated that a peaceful resolution was
still possible through strengthening inspections with clear deadlines and
demands, she added.
Angolan Deputy Foreign Minister Georges Chikoti noted that Iraqi cooperation
remained relatively insufficient and that progress normally occurred when
associated with specific benchmarks and dates. "Such an endeavour
appears to be, under the present circumstances, the most suitable way to
maintain the Council's unity, to uphold a course that can lead to a peaceful
solution of the crisis, and spare the Iraqi people, the region and the world
from an armed conflict and its dangerous consequences," he said.
Cameroon's Permanent Representative to the UN, Martin Belinga-Eboutou, said
the viability of inspections rested on unconditional Iraqi cooperation but
the inspections could not go on indefinitely. Appealing to the Council to
unite, he said a credible alternative to war must be sought. The Iraqi
authorities must be compelled to comply unconditionally and fully.
Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria said recent progress would have been
impossible without the threat of military force and the presence of a large
number of US and British troops that made that pressure credible. Bulgaria
would therefore support the resolution declaring that Iraq had failed to
take the final opportunity to disarm as an effective means to further
pressure Baghdad.
Munir Akram, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, said Iraq must
fully comply and the best assurance for success of peaceful disarmament was
Council unity, but he added that there was no imminent threat to
international peace and security. "The cost of delay would be much less
than the cost of war," he said.
Foreign Minister François Lonsény Fall of Guinea, which holds the Council
Presidency this month, said he would strive to ensure consensus. Guinea was
in favour of inspections but understood that they could not go on
indefinitely. He believed that if the Council managed the crisis in an
effective manner, its credibility would be enhanced.
Addressing the Council at the end of its discussion, Ambassador Mohammed A.
Aldouri of Iraq said the inspectors had borne out Iraq's contention that it
had no WMDs. The real reason for military force was to take over Iraq's oil
and dominate the Arab region politically and economically, he added.
"The possibilities of launching a war of aggression against Iraq have
become imminent despite what the Security Council will decide and in spite
of the official and public international stance strongly rejecting
aggression and war and demanding a peaceful solution," he said.
The United Kingdom, along with Spain and the United States, today
introduced a revised draft of a resolution that presents Iraq with a 17
March deadline to cooperate fully with Security Council demands that it rid
itself of weapons of mass destruction.
According to the draft, which was announced by UK Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw during the Council's ministerial-level meeting on Iraq, the Council
would decide that Iraq will have "failed to take the final opportunity
afforded by resolution 1441" unless it concludes that Baghdad has
demonstrated "full, unconditional, immediate and active cooperation"
in accordance with its disarmament obligations.
The text also calls for Iraq to yield possession to the UN Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of "all weapons, weapon delivery and
support systems and structures," prohibited by previous Council
resolutions, and all information regarding prior destruction of such items.
In his address to the Council meeting, during which the 15-nation body heard
reports by UNMOVIC chief Hans Blix and IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei, Mr.
Straw said it defied all experience that to continue inspections with no end
date or method of containment, as suggested by France, Germany and the
Russian Federation, would achieve complete disarmament unless Iraq's full
and active cooperation was immediately forthcoming.
To find a peaceful solution to the current crisis, the Council must not
retreat from the demands it had set out clearly in resolution 1441, Mr.
Straw stressed. "What we need is an irreversible and strategic decision
by Iraq to disarm - a strategic decision by Iraq to yield to the inspectors
all of its weapons of mass destruction and all relevant information which it
could, and should, have provided at any time in the last 12 years," he
said.
Mr. Straw credited the "strong outside pressure" exerted on the
Iraqi regime for the recent progress and activity reported by the UN
inspectors. "The paradox we face is that the only way we are going to
achieve disarmament by peace of a rogue regime - which all of us know has
been in defiance of this Council for the past 12 years - the only way we can
achieve their disarmament of their weapons of mass destruction, which this
Council has said poses a threat to international peace and security, is by
backing our diplomacy with a credible threat of force," he said.
Recalling that the Council stepped up to its responsibilities last November,
when it unanimously adopted resolution 1441, US Secretary of State Colin
Powell warned the Council against finding itself this November with the
pressure removed and with Iraq once again "marching down the merry path
to weapons of mass destruction, threatening the region, threatening the
world." He said that if the Council failed to meets its
responsibilities, then its credibility and its ability to deal with all the
critical challenges facing it will suffer.
"Now is the time for the Council to send a clear message to Saddam that
we have not been taken in by his transparent tactics," Mr. Powell said.
"Nobody wants war, but it is clear that the limited progress we have
seen, the process changes we have seen, the slight, substantive changes we
have seen, come from the presence of a large military force - nations who
are willing to put their young men and women in harm's way in order to rid
the world of these dangerous weapons.
"It doesn't come simply from resolutions. It doesn't come simply fro
inspections. It comes from the will of this Council, the unified political
will of this Council and the willingness to use force, if it comes to that,
to make sure that we achieve the disarmament of Iraq."
Foreign Minister Ana Palacio of Spain said Iraq's grudging and incremental
moves towards disarmament appeared to be distracting the Council from the
commitment it made 12 years ago to ensure that the Iraqi regime was
effectively disarmed. "We have been marking time for 12 years,"
she said, stressing that during that period, the Council had not moved to
uphold its duties while the Iraqi leadership continued its deceptions.
"What message were we sending to the world?"
Ms. Palacio said only maximum pressure or a credible threat of force made
any type of impression on the Iraqi regime, which was the underlying logic
of resolution 1441 and of the draft resolution sponsored by the three
nations. "This Council has to give a clear message that the time has
come to stop playing hostage to those who, in seeking their own ends,
mistakenly interpret our aspiration to peace as sign of weakness," she
said. "The Council must make it clear that it has always advocated not
containing Iraq, but for Iraq to disarm, to abandon its weapons of mass
destruction, and that this must be done peacefully, for which full Iraqi
collaboration is indispensable. And if it is lacking, Iraq alone will be
responsible for the consequences."
Monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have made
important progress over the last three months in identifying what
nuclear-related capabilities remain in Iraq, the head of the Agency told the
Security Council today, noting that the last three weeks in particular have
seen Baghdad be more forthcoming it its cooperation with the Agency.
"After three months of intrusive inspections, we have to date found no
evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons
programme in Iraq," IAEA Director-General Mohammed ElBaradei said at a
high-level meeting of the Council attended by 11 Foreign Ministers.Mr.
ElBaradei also noted that in the last few weeks, Iraq has provided a "considerable
volume" of documentation relevant to several issues under investigation
by the IAEA, including the country's efforts to procure aluminium tubes,
acquire magnets and magnet production capabilities, and reported attempts to
import uranium.
Based on available evidence, the IAEA chief said, the Agency has concluded
that there is no indication of resumed nuclear activities since 1998, nor
any sign of nuclear-related prohibited activities at any inspected sites.
He said Iraq's efforts to import aluminium tubes "were not likely to
have been related to the manufacture of centrifuges" and that it was
"highly unlikely" that Iraq could have achieved the redesign
needed to use them in a revived centrifuge programme.
The high-strength magnets purchased by Iraq in recent years have been for
various uses, and IAEA experts familiar with the use of such magnets have
verified that none of those declared by Iraq could be used directly for a
centrifuge magnetic bearing, Mr. ElBaradei added.
As for reports that Iraq has attempted to buy uranium from Niger in recent
years, Mr. ElBaradei said that the IAEA's investigation was centred on
documents provided by a number of countries that pointed to an agreement
between the two countries for the sale of uranium between 1999 and 2001.
"Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded, with the
concurrence of outside experts, that these documents are in fact not
authentic," and therefore the allegations are unfounded, he said.
"In the past three weeks, possibly as a result of ever-increasing
pressure by the international community, Iraq has been forthcoming in its
cooperation, particularly with regard to the conduct of private interviews
and in making available evidence that could contribute to the resolution of
matters of IAEA concern," Mr. ElBaradei said. "I do hope that Iraq
will continue to expand the scope and accelerate the pace of its cooperation."
Top United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix told the Security Council
today that over the past month Iraq has displayed "active" or even
"proactive" cooperation, which has allowed the inspection process
to make significant progress, although a number of key disarmament tasks
remained to be resolved.
Addressing a ministerial-level meeting of the Council, Mr. Blix cited in
particular Baghdad's move to begin UN-supervised destruction of the Al
Samoud 2 missiles, which had been declared by Iraq last year, but were later
found to be outside the permissible range by UN experts.
"The destruction undertaken constitutes a substantial measure of
disarmament - indeed the first since the middle of the 1990's," Mr.
Blix said. "We are not watching the breaking of toothpicks. Lethal
weapons are being destroyed."
But at the same time Mr. Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), said that the recent
acceleration of initiatives from Iraq, while welcome, should be judged by
how many questions marks they had actually succeeded in straightening out.
He also noted that Baghdad should be able to provide more documentary
evidence about its proscribed weapons programmes, and expressed hope that
the appointment of a government commission would help to produce results.
Turning to biological and chemical weapons, Mr. Blix said there was a
significant Iraqi effort under way to clarify a major source of uncertainty
as to the quantities of those arms, which were unilaterally destroyed in
1991. As part of that effort, a disposal site was being now re-excavated,
unearthing bombs and fragments, which could allow the determination of the
number of bombs destroyed at that site.
Mr. Blix emphasized that no evidence had so far been found of weapons of
mass destruction being moved around by truck, of mobile production units for
biological weapons or of underground facilities for chemical or biological
production or storage, as claimed by intelligence authorities. He added that
for further monitoring such claims UNMOVIC would need increased staff.
"I am not talking about a doubling of staff," he said.
"I would rather have twice the amount of high quality information about
sites to inspect than twice the number of expert inspectors to send."
Mr. Blix said more papers on anthrax, VX nerve gas and missiles had recently
been provided but many were found to restate what Iraq had already declared,
and some would require further study. He said Iraq had proposed an
investigation using advanced technology to quantify the amount of
unilaterally destroyed anthrax dumped at a site.
"However, even if the use of advanced technology could quantify the
amount of anthrax said to be dumped at the site, the results would still be
open to interpretation," he added. "Defining the quantity of
anthrax destroyed must, of course, be followed by efforts to establish what
quantity was actually produced.
"Against this background, the question is now asked whether Iraq has
cooperated 'immediately, unconditionally and actively' with UNMOVIC, as is
required under paragraph 9 of resolution 1441 (2002)," Mr. Blix said.
"It is obvious that, while the numerous initiatives, which are now
taken by the Iraqi side with a view to resolving some long-standing open
disarmament issues, can be seen as 'active,' or even 'proactive,' these
initiatives 3-4 months into the new resolution cannot be said to constitute
'immediate' cooperation. Nor do they necessarily cover all areas of
relevance."
"They are nevertheless welcome and UNMOVIC is responding to them in the
hope of solving presently unresolved disarmament issues," he stressed,
adding that with a proactive Iraqi stance it would take "not years, nor
weeks, but months" to resolve the key remaining disarmament tasks,
which he said he would present to the Council before the end of this month.
He also said that UNMOVIC would soon request interviews outside Iraq with
Iraqi scientists and others who may have knowledge of banned weapons
programmes since "conditions ensuring the absence of undue influences
are difficult to attain inside Iraq."
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