Optimistic Annan On Mission Of Hope

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan left New York for Paris on Thursday proclaiming optimism in his daunting mission to Baghdad to avert American-led military strikes against Iraq.

Twenty-nine United Nations staff in Iraq travelled to Jordan to escape possible attacks as two of Annans aides reached Baghdad to prepare for his visit and the US continued its military buildup with new troops in Kuwait.

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan pledged that Baghdad would work very positively with Annan on his mission to secure unrestricted access to suspect sites for UN inspectors.

As Iraqi President Saddam Hussein met Russias special envoy, Moscow a frequent broker in disputes with Iraq and emphatically opposed to the use of force said Annan had a great chance to resolve the dispute.

 

But Washington remained highly dubious as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, heckled by anti-war protesters on Thursday, told NBC :We would like to solve this peacefully but if we cannot we will be using force and the people will be behind us...

Annan, who has conceded that the toughest assignment of his 13 months in office may be the last hope before war, told reporters:

It is not an easy mission...Weve had a rather difficult relationship with the government of Iraq and President Saddam Hussein. There is a great deal of suspicion on both sides... Im reasonably optimistic that we can get Iraq to agree to comply with SC resolutions.

Asked if he had reasons for his optimism, Annan said: I dont want to get into that now.

The Iraqi News Agency quoted Ramadan as telling visiting Croatian politicians: The Iraqi leadership will work very positively with Mr Kofi Annan and will cooperate with him according to Security Council resolutions and their implementation, which stipulate maintaining Iraqs sovereignty and territorial unity.

Annan was due to hold talks with French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday before heading to Baghdad on Friday. He is due back in New York to brief the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, US President Bill Clinton said he and Chirac agreed Annans mission marked a critical opportunity to head off armed conflict.

Clinton also said he had asked Vice President Al Gore to postpone a planned trip Feb. 23-28 trip to South Africa to be on hand during the Iraq crisis.

U.N. weapons inspectors have been hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq since a U.S.-led force ended its occupation of Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War. But Iraq has tried to stop the inspectors entering eight extensive so-called presidential sites, or limit their access to 60 days.

Annan is acting under pressure from the biggest American naval, air and troop buildup in the Gulf since 1991, including 30 ships and 300 warplanes.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washingtons closest ally who has also sent forces to the Gulf, told Annan by telephone that the threat of force is real and that Saddam must commit himself in writing not to block access to suspect sites and not to set time limits on inspections.

Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, also in Paris on Thursday, told the French daily Le Figaro that he had sent Saddam the message that the thunderstorm is coming. You must comply with the decisions of the United Nations.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Valery Nesterushkin struck a more optimistic tone, telling reporters that Annans trip gives a great opportunity to use the potential for finding a solution suitable for all sides.

Moscow has been at the forefront of international diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis, and the Iraqi News Agency said Russian envoy Viktor Posuvalyuk had handed Saddam a letter from President Boris Yeltsin.

Meanwhile, Annans advisers, Shashi Tharoor from India and Rolf Goran Knutsson of Sweden, landed in Baghdad on a U.N. plane from Bahrain.

At about the same time the first 384 of an expected 6,000 U.S. Army armoured and helicopter troops landed in Kuwait, with another 370 due later in the day. Some 250 Australian troops were already on site.

American defence officials say the troops would defend Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the event of an Iraqi attack, using a U.S. stockpile of heavy weaponry kept near Kuwait City under a defence agreement signed after the Gulf War in 1991.

Meanwhile 29 U.N. aid workers left Baghdad, and officials said a similar number would depart on Friday to escape possible U.S.-led military action.

We know we are at a critical stage and we are just taking precautions, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Denis Halliday said as the staff left in a coach for a 10-hour journey across the desert to the Jordanian capital Amman.

The United Nations has more than 400 staff in Iraq who are expected to be withdrawn before any air attacks. Most are relief workers, but about 120 belong to inspection teams. Other relief agencies have also begun withdrawing staff.