3.5 |
Development of UK strategy and options, September to November 2002
–
the
negotiation of resolution 1441
50.
Iraq
informed Mr Annan on 16 September that it had decided to allow
the
return of
inspectors and that it was ready to discuss the practical
arrangements
with the
UN.
51.
A
subsequent letter from Saddam Hussein made clear that Iraq still
saw
agreement
on those arrangements as part of a wider discussion reflecting
Iraq’s
rights
under the UN Charter and the need to address all the obligations of
both
Iraq and
other Member States in relevant Security Council resolutions, not
just
Iraq’s
disarmament obligations.
52.
Saddam
Hussein declared that Iraq was “totally clear of all nuclear,
chemical
and
biological weapons”; and challenged President Bush’s “insinuation”
that Iraq
was linked
to the attacks on 9/11 and international terrorism.
53.
In a meeting
with Foreign Ministers of the League of Arab States on 14
September,
Mr Annan
sought their support for the return of inspectors to Iraq as a
means to
strengthen
peace and stability in the region and to avoid another major
conflict.14
He
also raised
the issue in a meeting with Mr Amre Moussa, the Secretary
General of the
League of
Arab States, and Dr Naji Sabri, the Iraqi Foreign Minister,
later that day.
54.
Dr Sabri
wrote to Mr Annan on 16 September to inform him that,
following the series
of talks
between Iraq and the UN in New York and Vienna between March and
July 2002
and the
latest round in New York on 14‑15 September, Iraq had decided “to
allow the
return of
United Nations inspectors to Iraq without conditions”.
55.
Dr Sabri
stated that, in taking the decision, the Government of Iraq was
responding
to the
appeals of Mr Annan, Mr Moussa and those of “Arab,
Islamic and other friendly
countries”.
The decision was based on Iraq’s “desire to complete the
implementation
of the
relevant Security Council resolutions and to remove any doubts that
Iraq still
possesses
weapons of mass destruction”.
56.
Responding to
the points in Mr Annan’s statement to the General Assembly
on
12 September,
the Dr Sabri stated that the decision was:
“… the
indispensable first step towards an assurance that Iraq no longer
possesses
weapons of
mass destruction and equally important, towards a
comprehensive
solution
that includes the lifting of sanctions … and the timely
implementation
of other
provisions of the relevant … resolutions. To this end … Iraq is
ready
to discuss
the practical arrangements necessary for the immediate
resumption
14
United
Nations, 16 September 2002, Daily Press
Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the
Secretary‑General.
15
UN Security
Council,16 September 2002, ‘Letter dated 16 September from the
Minister of Foreign
Affairs of
Iraq addressed to the Secretary-General’, attached to ‘Letter dated
16 September from the
Secretary‑General
addressed to the President of the Security Council’
(S/2002/1034).
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