Kofi Annan Announces Agreement With Iraq

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan said yesterday he had concluded an agreement with Iraq on the dispute over weapons inspections and he hoped the deal would be acceptable to members of the security council.

"In my view, the terms of this agreement, which have been concluded in writing, are acceptable and remove a major obstacle to the full implementation of relevant security council resolutions.

"I will so report to the security council immediately upon my return to New York on Tuesday...I hope it will be acceptable to all members of the Council," he said at a news conference in Baghdad with Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz.

 

Annan said there were "no time limits or deadlines" in the agreement, but added: "I think it is important that we do our work in a reasonable period."

They declined to give details of the agreement. The two men minutes earlier had signed the accord, which could defuse the long-running crisis that led to a big US and British military build-up in the Gulf.

Aziz turned away suggestions that the build-up had prompted Iraq to enter into the agreement.

"What helped in reaching this agreement...is the goodwill that he brought with him -- not the American or the British build-up and not the policy of sabre-rattling," Aziz said. "It was diplomacy...that enabled us to reach this agreement," he added.

Aziz said in Arabic: "This is a great gain." "In fact, there was no crisis between Iraq and the United Nations ...the crisis was with the United States, which is trying to impose its will on the UN," Aziz said, returning to English.

Annan said he hoped the agreement would mean that such crises would not be repeated.

"I genuinely believe that if we co-operate and do the kinds of things that we have agreed to do, we will not see that kind of crisis."