WASHINGTON, February 23: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has averted --temporarily at least -- an American military strike against Iraq by persuading Baghdad to lift its ban on UN arms inspectors searching eight controversial Presidential sites that Western powers suspect hold evidence of chemical and biological weapons.Iraq backed down and conceded most of the American demands, including a no-time limit on inspection of presidential sites, after Annan wielded both the carrot and stick in three days of intense diplomacy, according to reports from Baghdad.
Annan and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz signed and sealed the deal in Baghdad on Monday morning, but details of the agreement will not be made public before the Secretary General submits it to the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
But reports say Iraq finally pulled back from the main sticking point -- the 60-day time limit it set for inspection -- after suggestions that the UNSCOM team would take no longer than is necessary to complete the searches.The Americans had demanded unfettered and unlimited inspection rights. Iraq is also said to have won a minor victory in its bid to change the composition UNSCOM of the team.
UNSCOM inspectors will now be accompanied on their mission by diplomats from the five Security Council members, though the overall task will still be controlled by the commission.
The language of the Annan-Iraq deal may also include clauses respecting Iraq's integrity, sovereignty and dignity. Iraq has complained that the UNSCOM inspectors have been insensitive and have generally behaved like ``cops'' on a ``search and destroy'' mission.
The US reaction cautiously to news of the deal, saying it wants to review the fine print before commenting in detail. Already, the signs are not very propitious. Even President Clinton came up with a virtual no comment at a White House function on Monday, merely saying he had spoken to his National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, Secretary General Kofi Annan and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.He still needed to talk to the leaders of Russia and France.
In sharp contrast to the US reticence, Russia has already welcomed the deal, hailing it as a breakthrough. Analysts here echoed the American reservation, saying the deal could come unstuck anytime because it does not appear to cover the issue of other presidential sites outside the eight listed by Baghdad. UNSCOM, and the Americans, have kept identifying new suspicious sites during their inspection regime, and Iraq has kept declaring some of these out of bounds. So in that sense, the present deal does not foreclose more crises in the future.
But Annan presented a positive spin during his press conference in Baghdad with Tariq Aziz. ``I genuinely believe if we do the things we say we will do, we won't have that kind of crisis," he said.
Annan also appeared to sympathise with Iraq's position with his comments earlier in the day. ```(Iraq's) sense is that the sanctions have gone on long enough and that whatever they do does not seem to be enoughand that we keep asking for more and more and more and more without giving them any credit ... for the progress they make,'' he said.
Despite the abject, if temporary, surrender, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz saw the deal as a victory for Iraq. ``The military buildup in the Gulf does not scare us. What helped in reaching this agreement between the Secretary-General, my President and the Iraqi government is the goodwill (Annan) brought with him ... not the policy of saber-rattling,'' he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
