Russia has received commitments from President Saddam Hussein that he would allow all UN weapons inspectors to return to work in Iraq without any conditions, but it still “is completely premature” to reverse the U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Thursday.
Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov told the four other members of the United Nations Security Council in a dramatic overnight meeting that Hussein had said Iraq would announce its decision later Thursday, Albright said at a post-midnight news briefing.
“I will believe it when I see it,” she said. “Either the inspectors will go back or they will not.”
Later, Iraq’s official news agency said the country would allow all U.S. weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad.
Albright insisted that the U.S. had not agreed to support any changes in the inspection teams. She said the teams that return to Iraq, assuming Iraq actually allows them back, will have the same composition as those that left after Hussein carried through on his threat to expel the American members.
“We are now watching to see the reversal. . . . Foreign Minister Primakov is hopeful that we have taken a step that will make sure that this decision of Saddam Hussein’s is reversed,” she said. “The United States has not agreed to anything.”
However, it appeared from a statement endorsed by the five Security Council members and comments by Albright that if the inspectors return, Iraq had won assurances from the Russians and perhaps the French that they would press for the UN to change the makeup and procedures under which the inspection teams operate — one of Baghdad’s objectives when it began this confrontation with the UN three weeks ago.
What Iraq is believed to want most is an end to the sanctions under which it has operated since 1991. That may not happen any time soon, but Hussein did succeed in getting some concessions, even if they are only promises to consider changes in United Nations Special Commission procedures.
The UN Special Commission is to meet Friday in New York to consider changes. It is likely at that time that the commission will consider proposals discussed between Primakov and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz. One proposal likely to be considered is to expand the number of inspectors from countries other than the United States–an idea to deal with Iraq complaints that the U.S. dominates UNSCOM.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said he regarded that reference as a “very important” American move.
He said the plan involves an “enormous” movement by Iraq on unconditionally complying with UN resolutions and an “American opening.”
“I think that there are those who would like to see UNSCOM . . . be more effective and to make sure that it continues to do its work,” Albright said. “There will be discussion about whether more inspectors should be added.”
Any changes in the commission must be approved by the Security Council, where the U.S. has a veto.
Americans have comprised at least 10 percent of the weapons inspectors.
One of the factors that led the U.S. to tolerate a deal that offers concessions to Hussein is the urgency of getting the inspectors back in Iraq before too much time elapses and Iraq exploits the absence of inspection to reconstitute its weapons of mass destruction.
Asked of Baghdad’s reported plans meant the U.S. would end its buildup of air and sea forces near Iraq, Albright replied: “Any discussion of any changes of military deployments is completely premature.”
A statement read by British Foreign Minister Robin Cook said the participants in the late-night meeting hoped that Russia’s effort to forge a solution to the standoff would “lead to the unconditional decision by the leadership of Iraq to accept the return of the personnel . . . in its previous composition.”
Albright arrived in Geneva at 1:30 a.m. local time from Cairo after cutting short a trip to India, her latest stop on a whirlwind diplomatic tour of Europe, the Middle East and Southwest Asia. She went immediately to the Palais des Nations for the meeting with the other envoys.
In a statement before the meeting, she reiterated in strong terms that Iraq must allow the return of UN weapons inspectors, using language that suggested the deal announced by Russia was not entirely acceptable to the U.S. and that her mission to see Primakov was not aimed at blessing the agreement but at improving it.
“Iraq must let the weapons inspectors get back to their vital work of preventing Iraq from building nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, and it must permit those inspections to proceed without interference or conditions,” she said in a statement during a brief stopover in Cairo.
Albright stepped up her warnings that “other options” may be required to enforce Iraqi compliance. She plainly meant military force. “We continue to hope that we can achieve this objective peacefully. But we cannot rule out other options,” she said.
Reuters news service reported earlier that Russia and Iraq had agreed on a plan that would change the inspection process and could expedite lifting of the UN sanctions imposed after the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The inspection teams would have to speed up their work and tell Iraq when it had finished investigating particular weapons types, including Iraq’s programs for missiles, nuclear explosives, chemical agents and biological toxins.
Albright met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amre Moussa while in Cairo. She has spent considerable effort in recent days in shoring up support for opposing Hussein among skittish Arab governments. Albright indicated that one purpose of her hastily scheduled stop in Cairo was to urge Egypt’s support for possible military action.
With the Mideast peace process deadlocked, many Arab governments are upset with the United States for not publicly pressing Israel. They say the U.S. is biased when it demands that Hussein comply with UN dictates but is willing to go easier on Israel.
Albright has discovered in flying to European and Arab capitals that many key allies are reluctant to back the use of force against Iraq, wanting to give diplomacy every chance to work.
