by Christopher S. Wren
New York Times
Febraury 10, 1998
With France, Russia and the Arab League engaging in intense consultations to find a compromise that would avert an American military strike on Iraq, Secretary General Kofi Annan today canceled a long-planned trip to the Middle East in order to remain at United Nations headquarters and help work toward a peaceful solution of the Iraq crisis. Russia, France and the Arab League, which oppose using military force, are struggling to find a formula acceptable to Iraq as well as to the Security Council, diplomats report. The Russians said Iraq had shifted from its blanket refusal to give United Nations weapons inspectors unrestricted access to eight sites suspected of concealing materials used to make biological and chemical weapons, and has offered proposals that fall short of full disclosure.
The Arab League indicated the kind of compromise being debated when its Secretary General, Esmat Abdel-Maguid, floated a new plan in Cairo today. It would create a new team of inspectors acceptable to Iraq to visit the eight closed sites, in effect bypassing the existing United Nations inspectors, who would be limited to searching 60 other less sensitive Iraqi sites. Such a compromise, like earlier offers by Iraq and its friends, seems destined to be a diplomatic nonstarter, because it would diminish the central role of the United Nations Special Commission, the body created by the Security Council to dismantle Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The United States and Britain have said Iraq cannot dictate who may search its suspect installations. "Full unconditional access to all sites - that's the bottom line," the American representative to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, told reporters today. The Special Commission's inspectors, he said, should be "the key determinant." Still, such proposals have some appeal for other nations that view an American attack as the greater of two evils, and which prefer a peaceful accommodation, even if it gives Baghdad more maneuverability. Moreover, Russia and France are logical intermediaries because of their commercial interests in Iraq, while the Arab League has a strong Islamic and ethnic identity and counts Iraq among its 21 members.
The proposals have also managed to postpone a final reckoning, in the form of a tough Security Council resolution around which Washington could rally support for military action against Iraq. In Ottawa today, Prime Minister Jean Chretien said Canada would join the United States and Britain in taking military action if Iraq refused to open up to inspections. Mr. Richardson, who returned on Friday night from a 18,000-mile trip' to eight of the less prominent SecuriIty Council member nations, announced today that he would leave shortly for Asia to explain Washington's position to Japan and China, which are also on the Council.
The diplomatic contacts outside the Council have deferred the introduction of a draft resolution declaring Iraq in "material breach" of its pledge to comply with,-arms inspecions as a condition of the cease-fire at ended the gulf war in 1991. Some diplomats said such a resolution was needed to put maximum pressure on President Saddam Husein and make him recognize that the Council is serious about Baghad's compliance. One diplomat said such a resolution, which Britain is expected to draft, could be offered within days
. As several other diplomats tell it, Council members feel caught been disapproval of Mr. Hussein's defiance and fear of the physical and psychological damage that an American military strike would wreak, not least because it would give Iraq an excuse to break off all cooperation with the inspections. Outside the Council, Turkey has also expressed concern that armed action could start a new flight of refugees across the Turkish border. During a lunch on Friday, at least a half-dozen of the chief delegates to the Security Council asked that Mr. Annan stand ready to intercede. One member, Costa Rica, later sent a etter urging him to go to Iraq.
At a briefing today, the Secretary General's spokesman, Fred Eckard, said that while Mr. Annan had no immediate plans to visit Baghdad, 'if the Council asks him to go and he Is he can accomplish something going, certainly he will go." Mr. Annan was scheduled to leave sday for a 10-day swing through Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. It will be for rescheduled this year.
