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U.N. Wants Iraq to Clarify Weapons Talks
Tuesday, August 6, 2002
(6:09 AM)
By Evelyn Leopold
Reuters

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan speaks to the media at United Nations headquarters in New York, August 5, 2002. Annan said he would be meeting with members of the UN Security Council later in the day to discuss Iraqi offers of talks to discuss weapons inspections. United Nations chief arms inspector Hans Blix has made clear in a published interview Sunday that he would oppose the Iraqi offer unless Baghdad first agreed to the return of U.N. weapons experts to conduct investigations.
Image Credit: Mike Segar -- Reuters.

"There's no need for discussion. What there is a need for is for the regime in Baghdad to live up to its commitment to disarm," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said.

UNITED NATIONS -- Reuters
Secretary-General Kofi Annan says he is asking Iraq to clarify its invitation for weapons talks, indicating he expects Baghdad to first show willingness to allow U.N. arms inspectors to return.

He spoke to reporters on Monday after briefing U.N. Security Council members about a reply he was drafting to Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri's invitation last Thursday for chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix to come to Baghdad for technical talks.

"We would want to discuss with them the return of the inspectors," Annan said. "If Iraq is open to that sort of idea, there are practical (means) for moving forward, and this is something we are going to explore in the next letter."

Iraq has said Blix should review all pending issues on Baghdad's alleged weapons of mass destruction, key to suspending U.N. sanctions imposed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. Sabri said the talks could lead to a "solid basis" for the return of the inspectors, out of the country since December 1998.
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