Global Policy Forum

Secretary General Kofi Annan made a last-ditch appeal to Iraq tonight to make a "wise decision" and end its defiance of international arms inspections.

His plea followed a five-hour meeting with the Security Council that failed to agree on any other diplomatic steps that could or should be taken to budge President Saddam Hussein from the entrenched position that has 'put Iraq under the threat of American attack.

There was an atmosphere of futility around the meeting, since both the Council and Mr. Annan have been delivering the same message to the Iraqis for nearly two weeks, and, there is a sense that military action is probably inevitable. "All stressed the desirability of a peaceful and diplomatic solution, but events on the ground may be running away from us," Mr, Annan said after the meeting.

The Council and the Secretary Gener , al agreed that he would write a letter to the Iraqi leadership, restating his demand that Baghdad rescind I orders stopping cooperation with arms inspectors and ret-ninding the Iraqis that they would get a comprehensive review of their relations with the United Nations in return. A visibly exhausted Secretary General emerged frow. the Council session to make his public appeal to Baghdad, before meeting Iraq's representative at the United Nations, Nizar Hamdoon, who told reporters later that he hoped the United States would "give diplomacy a real chance."

"I would use this opportunity once again to urge President Saddam Hussein and'the Iraqi leadership to take a wise decision of resuming cooperation With Unscom and the atomic agency," he said, referring to the United Nations Special Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency. "I hope that this appeal will be listened to by the Iraqis authorities."

To encourage the Iraqis, Mr. Annan held out again the promise that a comprehensive review could lead to a lifting of sanctions if Iraq extended full cooperation to Unscom inspectors. Mr. Annan made no mention of a trip to Baghdad, as the Iraqis are urging. The Secretary General spoke with 'President Clinton by telephone this morning, his aides said, and was apparently told then that the United States was not in favor of a trip to Iraq by the Secretary General, at least not at this point.

United Nations officials said that Mr. Atinan could not go to Baghdad a second time this year, with the Iraqis having broken the first agreement, unless he had absolute assurance in advance that Mr. Hussein would reverse decisions made on Aug. 5 and' Oct. 31 that shut down arms inspections in Iraq. Mr. Annan met this morning with the representatives of China, France and Russia, who are pressing the Secretary General to take some kind of diplomatic initiative, though diplomats said the Russians did not suggest that there was anything to negotiate with the Iraqis.

In Baghdad today, Russia's Ambassador delivered two letters to President Hussein, one from President Boris N. Yeltsin and another from Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov. Both were critical of Iraq for raising the present crisis to a dangerous level by stopping all cooperation with arms inspectors, officials in Moscow said. Mr. Hussein was reported to have responded "positively," but British and American officials dismissed the gesture, saying he had merely repeated demands for a lifting of sanctions.

United Nations officials, looking beyond bombing raids, are concerned that a range of programs in Iraq could be curtailed or ended by the Iraqis in the wake of American attacks. If the Iraqis decide to flout sanctions, the "oil for food" plan under which Iraq is permitted to sell limited amounts of oil to pay for civilian goods and services could be the first victim. President Hussein has apparently never liked the program, which was beginning to feed Iraqis and provide them with medicines, hospital equipment and school materials, among other imports otherwise denied them by an embargo. If Iraq circumvent the sanctions, there would in theory be no need for outside help, since oil money would be freely available to the Iraqis - unless the United States was willing to blockade Iraq.

The continuation of imports under the oil-sale program is already in doubt. Today the British contractor in charge of stationing inspectors at Iraqi border points and ports to monshipments of food and other goods suddenly withdrew its staff in anticipation of American attacks on Iraq. Benon Sevan, the director of the Iraq program for the United Nations, said in a statement that the contractor, Lloyd's Register, had pulled out 54 people without warning. The result, Mr. Sevan said, is that shipments into Iraq cannot be checked and shippers will not be paid, since certification by border inspectors is required by the oil-sale plan.

Mr. Sevan said his office was "examining various options with a view to restoring inspection services with the least possible delay in order to maintain the flow of food, medicine and other essential humanitarian supplies into Iraq."