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U.N.
Security Council Prepares to Fight It Out over U.S. Intentions
Regarding Iraq
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Anan predicts UN Security Council would recoil from U.S. proposals regarding Iraq
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UNITED
NATIONS, Oct 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United Nations
Security Council will batten down the hatches and prepare to debate
the future of international and U.S. actions regarding Iraq starting
on Wednesday, council president Martin Belinga-Eboutou of Cameroon
said Friday, October 11.
South
African U.N. ambassador Dumisani Kumalo requested the debate in a
letter to Belinga-Eboutou written on behalf of the non-aligned nations
movement.
In
it, Kumalo alluded to an earlier letter from the movement which
"emphasized the urgent need for a peaceful solution to the issue
of Iraq."
The
debate will coincide with intense diplomatic maneuvering, which began
Thursday when British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Russia to
convince President Vladimir Putin of the need for a tough new U.N.
resolution threatening force.
Putin,
according to a Russian government official, said yes to a new
resolution but no to any threat of force, although those talks were
continuing late Friday.
Security
Council members have for more than a month been considering the demand
of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush for a
resolution defining tough new conditions for U.N. weapons inspections
in Iraq.
Kofi
Annan, who was the keynote speaker at the famed Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) on Friday stated that the Security
Council would most likely balk at a U.S. proposal to approve a
resolution on Iraq that both tightened arms inspections and authorized
a military strike should Baghdad fail to comply
Earlier,
a senior U.S. State Department official said Washington rejected as
unacceptable Iraq's response to demands from U.N. weapons inspectors
for their return to the country.
"It's
a page-and-a-half of rhetoric that says everything but 'yes',"
the official said on condition of anonymity, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported.
"It
ignores the requirements specified by the inspectors in their letter,
it does not reply directly to their letter and even throws in a
request for reimbursement.
"Once
again, Iraq is trying to evade its responsibility and is playing games
with the inspectors. We don't think very much of it. It demonstrates
once again that the U.N. Security Council needs to take action."
Earlier,
the Iraqi letter was leaked to reporters at the United Nations.
In
it, Iraq told the world body it was ready to receive U.N. arms
inspectors next week, but continued to insist its sovereignty be
respected and demanded payment for services such as equipment and
minders.
The
letter confirmed some points of an agreement reached in two days of
talks in Vienna last week, but on at least one crucial issue - access
to presidential sites - its wording differed from the U.N. version of
events.
The
letter was addressed to Hans Blix, chairman of the U.N. Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission and to Mohamed El-Baradei,
director of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"We
confirm our full readiness to receiving the advance team of the
UNMOVIC and the IAEA on October 19," it said.
The
letter was a reply to a 20-paragraph note which Blix and El-Baradei
sent Tuesday to El-Sadi asking for written confirmation of practical
arrangements agreed in Vienna.
The
10-paragraph Iraqi response did not explicitly confirm what the two UN
officials had written.
Instead,
it said the contents of a joint news conference in Vienna on October
1, and a briefing by Blix and El-Baradei to the U.N. Security Council
two days later, "correspond to what we have agreed upon in Vienna
regarding the practical arrangements.".
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