Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 56, April 2001

UN Postpones Iraq Talks

On April 13, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced he would be seeking a postponement of a second round of talks with senior Iraqi officials, tentatively scheduled for May. According to UN spokesperson Fred Eckhart, it is hoped to resume discussions sometime in June. A first round of talks, held in New York between a UN team led by Annan and an Iraqi delegation led by Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, were mutually described as constructive, although no substantive progress on breaking the long-standing stalemate on sanctions and weapons inspections was forthcoming (see last issue for details and comment).

No official reason for the postponement was given, but Annan is reportedly keen to secure greater Security Council agreement on UN policy. The Council's five permanent members have been deeply divided over the way ahead since the December 1998 US-UK bombing of numerous Iraqi targets led to the end of the work of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM). A successor organization - the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) - was established by the Council in December 1999, in a resolution abstained upon by China, France and Russia, but has not been allowed by Iraq to enter its territory.

On April 14, Iraqi Vice-President Yassin Ramadan, reacted to the postponement by downplaying hopes for the whole talks process: "We did not pin many hopes on the talks anyway because they were just a kind of tactic... [W] engaged in it, whether it achieved results or not, so that it won't be said that Iraq is wasting opportunities..." On the prospects for any change of Iraqi policy, Ramadan stated: "We believe the inspection task is over...and anyone who pushes for its return is pressing for the return of spies to Iraq... This is absolutely rejected."

On April 3, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement, circulated at the UN, arguing: "There is today an acute need for new approaches to the problem of Iraq..." The statement advocates the lifting of sanctions, but only in the event that "an international disarmament monitoring system" fails, "over a clearly defined, reasonable period of time...to uncover any Iraqi activity linked with banned military programmes." Even at this stage, the sanctions should not be lifted automatically, but only on the basis of a decision by the Security Council. The statement added: "The Iraqi side and the Secretary General...could work out a concrete formula to realise this idea, including the tasks and modalities of inspection activity, the status and rules of conduct for international monitors on Iraqi territory, a mechanism for sorting out disputes, and so on."

The Russian statement was issued as Hans Blix, former IAEA Director General and now Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC, was paying his first visit to senior Bush administration officials in Washington. On April 2, Blix stated, referring to ongoing policy reviews and debates within the administration: "They are now grappling with Iraqi issues. I think it would be interesting to learn what they have decided on..."

US and British efforts are focussing on reorienting the sanctions to hit the Iraqi leadership harder, and cause less suffering to the general population. The two countries are also keen to see an extensive inspection, as well as monitoring, effort in Iraq, with sanctions only lifted once full compliance with all disarmament and other measures stipulated in Security Council resolutions has been certified and verified.

Differences of opinion are not only apparent in the Security Council. Meeting in Amman on March 27-28, leaders of the Arab League failed to agree common language on the issue, principally due to bitter argument between Iraq and Kuwait. Although Kuwait was prepared to accept a call for the lifting of sanctions, it demanded an undertaking by Iraq not to threaten Kuwait in the future. According to Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah (March 28), by refusing to make such a commitment, "Iraq has caused the Arab summit to fail and not Kuwait." Referring to the military use of Kuwaiti territory by Washington, Iraqi Foreign Minister al-Sahhaf stated angrily (March 28): "It's not from Iraq that the...aircraft attack Iraq every day, killing Iraqi people and violating our sovereignty." A Russian Foreign Ministry statement on March 30 strove to sound positive about the impact of the summit on efforts to tackle the Iraq issue: "Though an agreed decision failed to be included in the final communiqué, the declaration of the Arab League...reflects the common understanding of a need for a speedy Iraqi settlement and the normalisation of the atmosphere in this part of the Middle Eastern region. ... Moscow is ready to deepen the dialogue with the Arabs on the situation around Iraq and in the Persian Gulf zone as a whole."

Notes: on March 16, the US State Department issued a statement to mark the 13th anniversary of the use of chemical weapons by Iraq on its own territory, in the predominantly Kurdish city of Halabja in the northeast of the country. The statement noted: "[A]n estimated 5,000 civilians were killed and 10,000 injured when Iraqi air forces bombarded Halabja with mustard and other poison gases. Thirteen years after the massacre, the people of Halabja still suffer from very high rates of serious diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders, birth defects and miscarriages. ... As we remember Halabja, we wish to reaffirm to ourselves and the international community that Saddam Hussein's regime must never be permitted to rebuild its programmes for the development of weapons of mass destruction."

On March 9, addressing a conference in Moscow entitled 'Ten Years of Sanctions: a Road to Nowhere', former Russian Foreign Ministry Yevgeny Primakov stated: "We want Iraq to gain support both in the Arab and Muslim world. We would like Baghdad to create a regime of preferential treatment for Russian entrepreneurs..."

Reports: Text - on 13th anniversary of Halabja massacre, US State Department (Washington File), March 16; Arab leaders end meeting in disarray over Iraq, New York Times, March 29; On the outcome of the Arab Summit in Amman, Russian Foreign Ministry Statement, Document 560-30-03-2001, March 30; Chief UN inspector goes to Washington on Iraq, Reuters, April 2; Russia urges time limit on UN arms inspections, Reuters, April 3; Official - Iraq wants Iraq trade, Associated Press, April 9; Annan postpones UN-Iraq talks, Associated Press, April 13; Iraq says not worried about delay of UN talks, Reuters, April 14; Iraq criticizes UN Secretary, Associated Press, April 14; Walker to visit Iraq's neighbors, discuss sanctions, Reuters, April 16.