IRAQ: Iraq has said it was ready to work with the United Nations on an overall solution to its crisis with the US provided US concerns about its weapons programmes were genuine and not a pretext to attack.
Speaking after talks with UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan at the Earth summit, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tareq Aziz repeated an invitation to US politicians to visit Iraq to check for themselves whether it had weapons of mass destruction.
"Let them tell us and the world that their concerns are genuine and that they are not using them as a pretext to attack Iraq - if those concerns are genuine, we can find a solution to that," Mr Aziz said.
"We invited the Americans themselves, we invited the British to come. If they come for a special mission, they are welcome because that is what we want them to do.
"But if they send people who will drag their feet for years without reaching a conclusion as they did for seven-and-a-half, that's not going to work."
Iraq's invitation to US politicians with no technical expertise to make weapons checks has been ridiculed in the West as a ploy to avoid international monitoring of its armaments.
Mr Aziz's remarks suggested he defined a "special mission" as the proposed visit by US politicians.
However, Mr Aziz told Qatar-based al-Jazeera television it would be "absurd" to allow the return of UN arms inspectors if Washington was determined to launch a strike against Iraq.
"If the United States has decided to attack Iraq it would be absurd for the inspectors to come to Iraq because they would come [only\] to update their information about Iraq and its legitimate defences," he said.
Mr Aziz said a comprehensive solution would involve tackling what he called US threats to Iraq, US and British air patrols over the north and south of Iraq, the lifting of sanctions and US threats to change Iraq's political system.
"As I told the \ Secretary- General, if anybody can have a magic solution, so that all these issues are being dealt with together, equitably and reasonably, we are ready to find such a solution and we are ready to co-operate with the United Nations." Mr Aziz said the two men promised to stay in touch.
Mr Annan said in a statement the meeting was part of continuing talks between Baghdad and the United Nations on the inspectors, who left Baghdad in 1998 after seven years of monitoring.
"This meeting was part of the ongoing dialogue between UN and Iraqi authorities aimed at agreeing on the return of inspectors to Iraq, which in turn will lead to a comprehensive solution including the lifting of sanctions," he said.
A spokeswoman for Mr Annan declined to comment on whether progress had been made in the talks.
Following the meeting with Mr Annan, Mr Aziz met the former South African president Mr Nelson Mandela who said he had advised Iraq to accept the return of UN arms inspectors, provided they were drawn from all continents and were objective.
"I have advised that Iraq accept the inspection without any obstruction, but the group of inspectors must be properly composed so it can be objective," he said after the talks with Mr Aziz.
"We can't accept any form of imperialism or colonialism. It must represent all the major civilisations of the world, in other words an attempt must be made that every continent is represented."
Washington, which has threatened military action against Iraq, says President Saddam Hussein is developing weapons of mass destruction and must be ousted.
Weapons inspection teams have not been allowed to return to Iraq since they left in 1998.
Mr Mandela said he had been told by Mr Aziz that those teams had been composed of Europeans. He said he would oppose the return of any team composed solely of "Europeans" or "whites". Mr Aziz is in South Africa to represent his country at the Earth summit.