Iraq expects UN
inspectors to deliver positive reports
Iraq
expects chief UN arms inspectors Hans Blix and
Mohamed ElBaradei to deliver to the UN
Security Council positive reports on Iraq's
cooperation with the inspectors on Friday, a
senior Iraqi official said on Thursday.
"We expect
the report to be positive, more positive than
their reports on Jan. 27, which is what we
have been promised," Mohammad Amin, head
of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate,
told a TV channel of the United Arab Emirates.
He also said
that Iraq's Al Samoud missile, allegedly
exceeding the limit of 150 km set by the
Security Council, is not under production.
"The range exceeding the limit was
reached only during testing," he said,
adding a number of experiments exceeded the
150-km range and the maximum was 183 km due to
technical faults.
It was reported
on Wednesday that international missile
experts told Blix that the range of the Iraqi
missile exceeds the limit.
Amin said the
Iraqi National Assembly (parliament) will
convene an emergency session on Friday to
discuss a draft law to prohibit individuals
and companies from owning banned weapons. The
meeting is expected to be held at 1300 GMT,
while the Security Council will meet at 1515
GMT to hear the reports by Blix and ElBaradei,
who termed the legislation as a key in Iraq's
disarmament.
On Monday,
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said Blix and
ElBaradei face an "important test"
as they are preparing updated reports on
Iraq's disarmament to the Security Council.
"Hans Blix
and Mohamed ElBaradei are now under an
important test to say that Iraq is devoid of
any weapons of mass destruction," Saddam
said, quoted by the official INA news agency.
Blix, chairman of the United Nations
Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC), and ElBaradei, head of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
capped their visit to Iraq Monday morning with
reported "good progress" in Iraq's
cooperation.
Speaking to
reporters after two days of talks on Sunday,
Blix said he hoped for "a beginning"
of better cooperation between Baghdad and UN
inspectors. ElBaradei said he was seeing the
beginning of "change" in Baghdad's
attitude toward the UN inspections in Iraq.
Blix and ElBaradei are expected to deliver
their updated reports to the UN Security
Council on Feb. 14, the date analysts term as
a crucial moment for peace or war.
The United
States has accused Iraq of hiding and secretly
developing banned weapons as well as having
linkage with the al-Qaeda terror network, and
vowed to disarm Iraq by force if necessary.
Iraq strongly denies the US allegation.
A US-led war on
Iraq looms large as the United States has
stepped up its military buildup in the Gulf
region.
US spy plane
disappears in Colombia
A US
spy plane with a crew of five on board
disappeared on Thursday in the jungle area of
the southern Colombian state of Caqueta.
Colombian
military authorities and the US Embassy did
not confirm at once whether or not the
aircraft, which worked on intelligence
gathering operations, crashed or was shot
down. The crew consisted of one Colombian and
four US soldiers, according to reports.
Air force
planes over-fly the area where the aircraft
disappeared, which is near the municipality of
Puerto Rico, an area with a marked presence of
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
the country's largest rebel organization.
The United
States backs Colombia in intelligence
operations against drug trafficking and
guerrilla warfare.
On July 23,
1999, a United States spy plane crashed in the
mountains of Narino state, killing two
Colombians and five US citizens.
Aceh peace
accord on brink of collapse
The
Indonesian minister for political and Security
affairs has warned that the peace agreement
with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is
threatened with failure due to serious
violations by the separatist group.
"Peace is
on the brink of collapse, although the peace
process in Aceh cannot be declared a certain
failure," Coordinating Minister for
Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono was quoted as saying by Antara at
the State Palace here on Thursday.
The senior
minister, along with Minister of Defense
Matori Abdul Djalil, Commander of the
Indonesian Military (TNI) Gen. Endriartono
Sutarto and National Police chief Gen. Da'i
Bachtiar, has just returned from the
inspection tour in Aceh province from Feb. 9
through Feb. 12 to monitor the latest
developments in the westernmost province of
this country.
Susilo pointed
out that the serious violations included
political propaganda by the separatist GAM
that the end result would be secession of
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, and that the
all-inclusive dialogue was misunderstood to be
a referendum.
He said in
order to make the second phase of the peace
implementation successful, there was an urgent
need for GAM to carry out substantial
corrections of understanding on the points of
the peace agreement.
The senior
minister made it clear that the Indonesian
government only wanted to proceed with the
peace agreement on three conditions: First,
GAM should genuinely disarm itself within the
coming five months; second, GAM should stop
engaging in serious violations; third, GAM
should refrain from making any political or
military moves in violation of the peace
agreement.
The Indonesian
government and the GAM signed a peace accord
to end the military conflict in Aceh, where
the GAM had been fighting for an independent
Islamic state since 1976.
NATO chief
determined to get consensus on defending
Turkey
Secretary
General of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) George Robertson gave an
assurance on Thursday that he is unshaken in
his decision to persuade all NATO members to
reach a consensus to defend Turkey incase of
an Iraq war.
Robertson
claimed that he has been forced to call for a
new Atlantic Council, because he remains
"firm" in his decision "to
approach the different positions around a
common stance, related to the defense of an
ally (namely Turkey) that currently feels
threatened."
In a letter
addressed to Spanish Defense Minister Federico
Trillo, Robertson said: "You know that
until the last moment I have kept alive the
hope to be able to reach a consensus inside
the Atlantic Alliance in regard to the
contingency plans for the defense of
Turkey."
Ambassadors of
19 member countries of NATO failed Wednesday
evening to reach any consensus on a compromise
proposal on providing military support to
Turkey if an Iraq war breaks out.
The NATO row,
triggered by the veto of France, Germany and
Belgium, on the original proposal Monday, was
widely cited as the most serious crisis the
military alliance has faced since its founding
54 years ago.
No push for
UN sanctions against DPRK now
The
United States is not seeking to push the UN
Security Council to impose sanctions on the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
and still believes that the DPRK nuclear issue
could be solved by diplomatic efforts, a
senior US official said Thursday.
"I don't
anticipate that the Security Council is going
to vote any sanctions, at least at this stage
in the problem," Assistant Secretary of
State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs James
Kelly said at a congressional hearing.
Kelly told the
House International Relations Subcommittee on
Asia and the Pacific Subject that although the
DPRK issue is very serious, there is still
time for a diplomatic solution because the
DPRK's withdrawal from the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty will not take effect
until 90 days after Jan. 10. Saying the DPRK
nuclear issue is an international one, Kelly
insisted that talks with Pyongyang should be
held in a multilateral setting.
He said the
United States remains committed to its
"bold approach" toward the DPRK,
which means Washington stands to offer
benefits if Pyongyang gives up its alleged
nuclear programs.
However,
echoing similar remarks made by US President
George W. Bush, Kelly reiterated that all
options remain open if the situation around
the DPRK nuclear issue deteriorates.
|
