Iraq Confirms Readiness to Accept UN Inspectors

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 12, 2002

Iraq Confirms Readiness to Accept UN Inspectors

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Iraq said Friday in a letter to the chief UN inspector that it is ready to readmit inspectors on Oct. 19, but failed to respond to the UN request for written confirmation of points of agreement reached during their Vienna talks.

The two-page letter, obtained by Xinhua, was responding to an Oct. 8 letter from the inspectors detailing agreements reached in Vienna earlier this month on practical arrangements for the resumption of inspections.

The UN letter, signed by Hans Blix and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei, asked Iraq to confirm its acceptance of the agreements, as requested by UN Security Council members.

The Iraqi letter was signed by Amir Al-Saadi, an Iraqi general and adviser to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein who headed the Iraqidelegation at the Vienna talks.

The letter did not confirm the agreements item by item as Blix listed, it confirmed rather generally, saying "the substance of the joint press statement of 1 Oct. 2002 and of the notes for your briefing of the Security Council on 3 October 2002 is in conformity with the agreements we reached during the Vienna talks on practical arrangements."

It reiterated Iraq's readiness to receive the advanced team of inspectors on Oct. 19, and suggested recycling of old arrangement on working procedures.

"We confirm the concept... that many of the practical arrangements that were followed in the period from 1991 to 1998 remain viable and useful and can be applied once more and that some of the previous working procedures have been modified," it said.

It reminded the UN chief inspectors of their promises of professionalism, seeking guarantee for respect of "Iraq's sovereignty, security and dignity."

"Your assurances that the practices of UNMOVIC... will be professional and impartial and will respect Iraq's sovereignty, security and dignity and that it will not be allowed to use its mechanisms to precipitate crises or for purposes of provocation orespionage have done much to help the confidence-building process,"it said.

At the end of the letter, the Iraqi general recalled that it was an Iraqi "initiative" to allow the return of the inspectors without conditions, and the offer "expressed our desire to complete the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and the agreements, commitments and arrangements previously in place."

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