Global Policy Forum

By Barbara Crossette

United Nations - Russia took the lead today in marshaling a growing opposition to Secretary General Kofi Annan's nomination of a chief arms inspector for Iraq. The opposition suggested protracted battles to come, not only over that appointment, but also over other steps toward resuming the monitoring of Iraqi weapons. France and China joined the Russians in objecting to the nomination of Rolf Ekeus, a Swedish disarmament expert who established the first inspection system in Iraq after the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf, as the executive chairman of a new commission created in December. The three want the nomination process reopened so that someone more acceptable to Iraq can be found.

Several nations holding rotating council seats were also thought to be uncertain about the appointment of Mr. Ekeus, making it unlikely that his supporters, including the United States, would try to force a vote soon. The idea was discussed today and apparently abandoned. Some experts outside the United Nations, seeing the stalemate as a crisis of credibility for both Mr. Annan and the Security Council, said a vote -- either of confidence or no confidence -- in the secretary general's choice would be without precedent and could be very damaging.

"This issue will have to get resolved, but I'm not going to say how or when," said Richard C. Holbrooke, the American representative and this month's council president, after an inconclusive two-hour session. "We are not sending this back to the secretary general. It remains in the Security Council." He said that foreign ministers and other officials were discussing the matter by telephone. Speaking officially in his role as president, Mr. Holbrooke described what occurred behind closed doors by saying simply, "The council displayed unanimity in preference to support the secretary general, but there is no consensus."

China, France and Russia sent letters to Mr. Holbrooke announcing their opposition and calling for new names. China's letter, signed by Ambassador Qin Huasun, was the most tentative, suggesting that a candidate from a developing country "may be better positioned to convince Iraq to cooperate with the council." The letter from Sergey Lavrov, the Russian representative, which Mr. Holbrooke received Monday night, simply stated that Russia "cannot agree with the proposal." Speaking to reporters after the council session today, Mr. Lavrov said Russia would have nothing to do with anyone associated with the former disarmament panel led by Mr. Ekeus, which was known as Unscom.

Mr. Lavrov added that if Iraq was to be persuaded to accept renewed inspections, the Iraqis would have to know, and presumably approve, a number of points. These include not only the commission chairman, he said, but also the composition of the inspection and monitoring staff and the list of issues that President Saddam Hussein's government would have to address. "All this is to be done before we come to the situation where Iraq can say yes or no," Mr. Lavrov said.

The United States, once the most outspoken defender of the inspections, has played a low-key role on the topic for more than a year. Today, Mr. Holbrooke, who continued to insist that the priority of the month was Africa, rejected the suggestion that Washington and Moscow were on a collision course. "We have our differences," he said. "We have our areas of commonality. We're working through here a difficult problem but one that is not insurmountable -- and sanctions do remain in place, and the resolution was passed." He was referring to the resolution establishing the new arms panel, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission.

"No action is taken on the secretary general's recommendation on Rolf Ekeus, and everyone agreed that this remains the month of Africa," Mr. Holbrooke said. "Everyone agreed that we do not wish this to divert from the fact that President Mandela will be here tomorrow -- the first time he will be in the Security Council -- to discuss his efforts to prevent massive bloodshed in Burundi, and that we have seven or eight presidents and former presidents of Africa arriving in town at the end of the week."

At the Council on Foreign Relations, Ruth Wedgwood, an international lawyer and specialist on the United Nations, called the secretary general's nomination of Mr. Ekeus after a month of wrangling with Security Council members "very daring." "France and Russia should be aware of the gravity of a no-confidence vote," she said. "The secretary general has taken a personal stake in this issue. The council's confidence in his leadership should lead to a positive vote."

Edward C. Luck, executive director of the Center for the Study of International Organization, a joint program of New York University Law School and Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, said it was difficult to see on what basis council members could reject Mr. Ekeus, "unless they are rejecting competence, professionalism and integrity." "It would appear that what the Russians, Chinese and French want is someone who would be little more than a figurehead," said Mr. Luck, who wrote "Mixed Messages: American Politics and International Organization 1919-1999" (Brookings, 1999).

Mr. Luck said it was disappointing that the first commission, which he called a bold experiment in disarmament, had failed. "More and more, arms control was becoming global in scope and needed an impartial institution to oversee inspections that would have to be intrusive," he said. "It was a logical extension of the Security Council's mandate." But many parties contributed to the demise of Unscom, he said.