Annan Seen As Best Chance For Iraqi Peace

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, after receiving full Security Council support for his mission to Baghdad, said on Wednesday he had a reasonable chance of success to avert war. He also said he was encouraged by messages coming from Baghdad that they (the Iraqis) are prepared to engage me constructively.

Russia said Annans visit, starting on Friday, was vitally important, while Egypt said it offered a last chance for President Saddam Hussein to avoid military strikes.

Britain said bombing would inflict huge damage on Saddams military capability. It urged him to draw back from the brink by allowing UN arms inspectors free access to suspected weapons sites.

 

Annan announced late on Tuesday that he would undertake a peace mission to try to prevail on Saddam. One of his predecessors, Javier Perez de Cuellar, tried similar eleventh-hour diplomacy but failed to avert the 1991 Gulf War in which US-led forces drove Iraq out of Kuwait. It is my hope that we can achieve a diplomatic solution that will ensure the full implementation of all Security Council resolutions, Annan said.

He was referring to council resolutions that demand the UN Special Commission destroy Iraqs weapons of mass destruction, a key requirement before economic sanctions, imposed after Saddams 1990 invasion of Kuwait, can be lifted.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said of Annans trip: I have great hope that this visit will succeed because it will spare Iraq endless problems. Mubarak said: We will probably send another letter to Saddam Hussein urging him to work hard to make this trip a success.

Iraqi foreign minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf arrived in Iran for talks. In Baghdad, the Al-Jumhouriya said Annan should know that most states opposed the use of force and remember that the UN was independent of Washington.

Babel newspaper, owned by Saddams son Uday, said the US was losing credibility by maintaining its tough line against Baghdad.

The whole world has realised the motives and goals of this aggressive, evil (US) position, it said.

US President Bill Clinton warned Saddam on Tuesday to back down or face a military strike but said there was still a chance for a peaceful solution.

Let there be no doubt, we are prepared to act. But Saddam Hussein could end this crisis tomorrow, simply by letting the weapons inspectors complete their mission, he told generals and top foreign policy advisers.

US ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson said Washington would reserve the right of dissent if the result of Annans trip was not to its liking.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said Moscow, which has consistently argued against a US military strike, did not see Annans trip as the last chance for peace.

Russia does not share the fatal conviction that the UN secretary-generals forthcoming mission is, as it were, the last chance to settle the Iraqi crisis by political means, spokesman Valery Nesterushkin told Interfax news agency.

Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov on Tuesday forecast that Iraq would submit to UN inspections without being punished by military force.

Russia, China and France are concerned that military strikes on Iraq could raise tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere.

At the same time, all three are anxious to limit the supremacy Washington has enjoyed since its superpower rival, the Soviet Union, collapsed in 1991.

Britain, which has firmly backed the US line, said force would be used only as a last resort.

I rely on skilled and careful military advice, and all I can say to you is that we are absolutely certain that the damage that will be done to him and his military structure is going to be very considerable indeed and that will substantially reduce his capability of attacking his neighbours, defence secretary George Robertson told BBC radio.

The United States says Baghdad has consistently hindered UN weapons inspectors, concealing information on its ability to produce deadly chemical and biological agents.

It has completed an extensive naval, air and troop buildup in the Gulf, ready to strike if Baghdad continues to bar so-called presidential sites to UNSCOM inspectors. Iraq denies possessing weapons of mass destruction.

French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine said that Saddam might still cave in under massive international pressure and agree to further arms inspections.

Vedrine told Frances RTL radio that the Iraqi leader had engineered crises over UN efforts to curb his arms programme several times in the past and had changed his position at the last minute.

German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel was quoted as saying Annan had the greatest chance of persuading Saddam to comply with the UN arms inspection regime.

There can be no exceptions, Kinkel told the daily Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung. Otherwise we cant be certain that Saddam Hussein no longer possesses highly dangerous weapons, above all biological and chemical, which are dangerous not just for the region but for the world.