U.N. Envoy: I Give Up On Iraq

A U.N. envoy said Tuesday that he had failed to persuade Iraq to resume cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors and would leave Baghdad on Wednesday.

The envoy, Prakash Shah, told reporters that his next step would be to brief the U.N. Security Council in New York of his talks this week with Iraqi officials.

"There was no change in their policy," Shah said.

Shah spoke with reporters six days after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan dispatched him to Baghdad to urge Iraqi leaders to reverse their position on U.N. weapons inspections.

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announced on Aug. 5 that the country no longer would cooperate with inspectors from the U.N. Special Commission, which is headed by Richard Butler, or the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.

The inspectors must certify that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction before punishing trade sanctions, imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, can be lifted.

The sanctions bar air travel to and from the country and limit the sale of oil, Iraq's economic mainstay.

Iraq has long held that it has eliminated its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons as well as long-range missiles.

It announced its decision against cooperation after Butler on a visit here earlier this month said he could not certify that the Iraqis were in compliance with U.N. resolutions.

Shah told reporters Tuesday that he met twice with Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, after his arrival last Thursday.

He said that during the meetings, he stressed Annan's proposal to the U.N. Security Council that there be "a comprehensive review" of the sanctions.

Shah also said he sent a letter on Monday to Annan to keep the Security Council abreast of developments.

"It is up to the Security Council" to decide what to do next, Shah said.

Aziz on Monday briefed a Cabinet meeting chaired by Saddam on his meetings with Shah, the official Iraqi News Agency reported. It gave no other details.

Annan in February defused the last crisis with Iraq, persuading the regime to open up previously closed presidential palace compounds to U.N. inspection.

The compromise Feb. 23 ended threats by the United States and Britain to use force, if necessary, to get Iraq to cooperate.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Monday in New York that Annan did not foresee a personal role in the current dispute.

Written by Mariam Sami