by Barbara Crossette
March 7, 1998
In an effort to expand its influence on the special commission charged with disarming Iraq, Russia has asked Secretary General Kofi Annan to name a Russian as co-deputy chairman of the panel, United Nations officials said today. The move is believed to require Security Council approval because the resolution setting up the commission specifically mentioned a chairman and a deputy and made no mention of other officers or of the nationalities of the officers. Richard Butler, an Australian arms-control expert, is now chairman; Charles Duelfer, an American, is his deputy.
A question still being debated among American officials is whether a Russian co-deputy would best serve Unscom's interests, given Moscow's arguments that economic sanctions on Iraq should be eased, despite Baghdad's record of concealing its weapons programs. In Washington, a State Department official who requested anonymity said, "We encourage broad international participation in Unscom and have confidence that Chairman Butler will make personnel decisions with the best interests of Unscom in mind."
The Russians had proposed five deputy positions, one for each permanent member of the Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. France, which suggested the number be kept to two, has assigned a political adviser to the commission's headquarters here. Russia and France have been more sympathetic to Iraq than most Western nations. Some officials and diplomats see the request by Russia as a further test of Mr. Annan's willingness to be flexible with Iraq. But in this case, the action would mean the Secretary General was treading on Security Council territory. Mr. Annan has said repeatedly that he would not or could not dilute the authority of the Security Council or Unscom, which the Council established in 1991 as a semiautonomous body.
A series of steps that Mr. Annan has taken this week, including the appointment of a political representative in Baghdad, and his willingness to consider the Russian request have raised questions among diplomats about about whether there were any side agreements to the accord he struck with Iraq last month to open some previously closed sites. United Nations officials have denied any secret deals. In recent months, Russia has supported Iraq's demands that the commission - and in particular its inspectors - be more broadly representative of the United Nations. President Saddam Hussein has accused the inspectors of being American spies and has said that both Mr. Butler and Mr. Duelfer are beholden to Washington and insensitive to Iraqi concerns about sovereignty. Commission officials and American diplomats dismiss these charges, saying Iraq is trying to blunt the effectiveness of the commission or sideline it entirely because it is closing in on some important sites for inspection.
Russia has been critical of the inspection process, complaining that the inspectors are too aggressive and too slow to complete their task. Suspicions about Russia were raised when United Nations inspectors reported finding a document indicating that Russia and Iraq had discussed the sale of equipment that could be used in a biological warfare program. There also have been complaints that confidential information about proposed inspections have reached the Iraqis through the Russian Embassy in Baghdad. Russia stands to gain if United Nations sanctions against Baghdad are lifted because Iraq owes Russia billions of dollars for weapons, and Russia has a commitment to develop oil fields in Iraq.
United Nations officials have drawn up procedures for inspecting eight "presidential" sites that Mr Hussein agreed to open in talks with Mr. Annan in Baghdad on Feb. 22. Under the agreement, these sites are to be visited by inspectors accompanied by diplomats. Fred Eckhard, spokesman for the Secretary General, said the procedures would be presented to the Security Council and made public on Monday, after the arrival in New York of Iraq's Foreign Minister, Mohammed Said al-Sahaf.
Iraq complains that the United Nations monitoring infringes on the Government's rights, an accusation that has become the theme underlying all discussions with Baghdad for more than a year. But United Nations searches of sites not classified as presidential have continued without incident. On Thursday, Scott Ritter, an American expert on concealment whom the Iraqis had barred in January, returned to Baghdad with 50 inspectors, to complete the job the Iraqis had interrupted. He and his team, drawn from 11 countries, visited three "sensitive" sites today without incident. Sensitive sites are another category to which Iraq wants to control access.
There were no efforts to prevent Mr. Ritter from returning to Iraq, although Iraqi officials barred television crews from recording his arrival at Habbaniya air base, about 70 miles west of Baghdad. Iraq does not allow inspectors to land at Saddam International Airport, on the edge of the capital. On Monday, Jayantha Dhanapala, the Under Secretary General for Disarmament Affairs, is to go to Iraq to begin laying the groundwork for visits to the presidential sites. Mr. Dhanapala, a Sri Lankan arms control expert, is to direct the visits - officials in Mr. Annan's office do not call them inspections - with Mr. Butler.
In planning how to handle the presidential sites, members of the special commission, which had little input into drawing up the procedures, worry that diplomats, with little or no expertise, could limit the inspectors work. The diplomats, for example, are seen as being sympathetic to Iraqi demands for "dignified" searches. Iraqi officials have complained about what they see as a gangbuster style among inspectors, accusing them of barging into private living quarters unannounced. Commission experts respond that unless they can make unannounced inspections, objects or documents can be hidden from them. Inspectors are concerned that diplomats may hint to Baghdad when searches are planned, reducing visits to "ritual searches" that Iraq can use to argue that it has met the requirements of the agreement with Mr. Annan.
