U.N. Team Arrives In Iraq
A United Nations team arrived in Iraq on Sunday to map the presidential compounds at the heart of a four-month standoff over U.N. weapons inspections.
"I hope that the current crisis will be solved," the head of the team, Staffan de Mistura of Sweden, was quoted as saying by the Iraqi News Agency. "I am here for this purpose."
France had proposed that a survey team go to Baghdad to make sure all sides agree on the dimensions and locations of the eight prohibited sites, which are spread out across Iraq.
The team includes de Mistura, the former U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, and two Austrian mapmakers from the U.N.'s Vienna office. They are expected to finish their work in three or four days.
The United States and Britain have warned Iraq they may launch a military strike if Baghdad does not grant unfettered access to U.N. inspectors seeking to search the presidential compounds and other sites. Iraq has barred the inspections, citing national sovereignty.
The inspectors are trying to ensure that Iraq's long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction are destroyed. Until they complete their task, a ban on Iraqi oil exports and other sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait will not be lifted.
Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky has visited one of the compounds, the Iraqi News Agency reported Sunday.
Zhirinovsky, who arrived Wednesday with seven members of Russia's parliament, was shown around the compound in Baghdad along with journalists who had accompanied him, the agency said.
Zhirinovsky was quoted by the agency as criticizing "the aggressive policies of the United States motivated by hate and wish of domination."
His plane, loaded with humanitarian goods, arrived from the Armenian capital Yerevan, where it had been stuck for three days before getting a waiver to the U.N. ban on flights to Iraq imposed as part of the sanctions.
Recent key developments in the Iraq crisis:
- U.S. envoy Bill Richardson traveled to China to gather support possible U.S. military action in the Gulf. Richardson described the talks as "good," but Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said military action won't solve the problem, and will kill innocent people.
- Iraq announced it was freeing two Kuwaiti prisoners under a general amnesty for foreign Arab convicts in Iraqi jails.
- President Clinton said "I hope and I pray" that Saddam Hussein gives up his resistance to unlimited U.N. weapons inspections. Otherwise, a U.S.-led military operation will "significantly diminish" Iraq's ability to regenerate its arsenal of doomsday weapons.
- Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that if Clinton orders a military strike, "we'll lose some people, no question."
- Jordan's King Hussein, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and Syrian President Hafez Assad have discussed the shrinking opportunities for the success of diplomatic endeavors...suggesting that a military strike has become imminent," according to the Petra news agency.
- Israel's defense minister is quoted as saying Israel will ask the United States to delay a military strike against Iraq until the Jewish state is fully prepared for a possible Iraqi attack with non-conventional weapons.
- Representatives from Lebanon, Sweden, and the European Union, are calling for a peaceful solution to the showdown.
- The U.S. Air Force chief-of-staff arrived in Kuwait Saturday to discuss preparations for possible use of force against Iraq, and an Omani minister reportedly said Baghdad has less than a week to avoid such an attack.
- Britain, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada are prepared to supply forces and logistical support for a U.S. military strike on Iraq. No such support is forthcoming from Russia, China, or France.
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