LONDON Ñ Iraq has rejected a United Nations appeal for the return of
weapons inspectors.
The refusal ended two days of talks between an Iraqi and UN delegation
in Vienna. UN officials said a new round of talks would be planned.
"There has been some movement, but obviously not enough," UN
secretary-general Kofi Annan said after the talks ended on Friday. "I would
have preferred to move further."
Western diplomatic sources said the Iraqi delegation, led by Foreign
Minister Naji Sabri, placed conditions on the return of the UN weapons
inspectors, forced out of Iraq in 1998. The sources said Iraq demanded that
sanctions be removed immediately after the first UN weapons inspection.
"We agreed to continue contact on technical matters," Sabri said. "There
are a lot of issues involved."
The diplomatic sources said the failure of the talks will accelerate
U.S. plans to attack Iraq. On Friday, the New York Times reported that the
Bush Administration had drafted plans to attack Iraq from three directions.
The UN delegation included Mohamed El Baradei, director-general of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, and Hans Blix, executive chairman of the
UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission for Iraq.
For its part, Iraq blamed the United States for the failure of the
Vienna talks.
