Iraq and the United Nations issued a 10-point joint declaration today in which Baghdad pledged to boost co-operation as demanded by arms inspectors ahead of a key compliance report to the Security Council.
|
|
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's
top adviser, Mr Amir al-Saadi, (left) stands next to UN chief inspector Hans Blix after ending talks in Baghdad today. |
The accord covers access to all sites, including private homes, encourages Iraqi scientists to accept private interviews and appoints a team for a comprehensive search for warheads, chief UN inspector Dr Hans Blix announced.
The United Nations was seeking "an effective and credible inspection process," said Dr Blix, head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Committee (UNMOVIC), before ending a 24-hour visit to Iraq.
"We have gone a long way on that but there have been hitches on it and some of these hitches were solved today."
But Dr Blix warned there remained major issues outstanding with Iraq.
"There are outstanding issues which we were not able to solve, substantive issues related to anthrax, VX (nerve gas), Scud missiles. We did not discuss that yet."
These were among the main elements which led the previous UN disarmament commission to conclude Iraq had failed to cooperate, leading to US-British air strikes in December 1998.
President Saddam Hussein's advisor Mr Amer al-Saadi, who is in charge of Iraq's disarmament dossier, said in a press conference today that Baghdad expected Dr Blix to be "honest and professional" in his January 27th crucial status report to the Security Council on Iraqi disarmament.
On the issue of allowing Iraqi scientists to be interviewed by the inspectors, Saadi said: "We will never force them, but we will encourage them. They have the right to refuse.
"They want to have the means to guarantee these rights and a precise trail of their statements so that they are not deformed or misunderstood," he said.
The aim of the interviews should be to ascertain "Iraq no longer has weapons of mass destruction, and nothing else", he said. The issue of allowing interviews to be conducted abroad was not discussed with Dr Blix and Dr El Baradei.
The White House reacted to Monday's accord by saying it wanted to see actions from Saddam.
"We're only interested in actions. After 11 and 12 years of watching Saddam Hussein give his word and not keep it, his word is not as meaningful as his actions," White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said.
AFP