By The Associated Press
January 26, 2000
United Nations - The Security Council reached an informal consensus today on Hans Blix of Sweden, the former head of the U.N. nuclear agency, to head the new U.N. weapons inspection agency for Iraq, the council president said.
The council was forwarding Blix's name to Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his consideration, but Annan's approval was almost assured following the council's unanimous decision. ``Let those who saw divisions in the international community know that I am speaking now on behalf of a united, unanimous Security Council,'' said U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who is president of the council. Blix was chosen after members failed last week to agree on another Swede, Rolf Ekeus, to head the new agency. Ekeus was the executive chairman of the U.N. Special Commission for Iraq from 1991 to 1997. Both the Special Commission and the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency were charged with overseeing the destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War. Blix headed the Vienna-based IAEA until 1997.
The Special Commission fell out of favor with council members Russia, China and France after allegations surfaced that the United States was using it to spy on Iraq and following a commission report that triggered U.S. and British airstrikes in December 1998. IAEA inspectors, who focused solely on Iraq's nuclear program, often worked separately from the Special Commission and were never as controversial.
In a bid to restart weapons inspections, the Security Council in December created a new inspection agency to replace the Special Commission, called the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. After a monthlong search, Annan nominated Ekeus to head the new agency. But Russia, China and France rejected him last week, saying his associations with the Special Commission made him unfit to lead the new agency.
Annan was relieved that someone as qualified as Blix had received unanimous support, and he may send the nomination paperwork out later today, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Blix, who is trekking in Antarctica, was not immediately available for comment, though he is in contact with the United Nations, Eckhard said.
Iraqi Ambassador Saeed Hasan didn't reject Blix outright but said the December resolution creating the new agency would not work. ``Devil or angel, the new chairman will not change much in the scheme which has been prepared by the United States,'' Hasan said. ``This resolution is not implementable, is not working and will not work.''
Blix's emergence as a consensus candidate comes at a particularly opportune time. The IAEA on Tuesday completed a five-day, routine inspection of Iraq's nuclear material to make sure Baghdad's stocks aren't being used for military purposes. The team leader said Iraq's cooperation was good. The inspection, however, is unrelated to the post-Persian Gulf War U.N. weapons inspections. It stems from Iraq's obligations to submit to regular inspections under nuclear nonproliferation treaties.
