Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said Tuesday that he had agreed to a new round of talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "within a few weeks,” reported AFP.
Iraq began top-level private talks Monday with the UN on breaking the stalemate over sanctions, but took an uncompromising public stance, ruling out a resumption of arms inspections.
Annan was quoted as telling reporters that he does not " expect miracles in the two days of talks" with an Iraqi delegation led by Sahhaf.
In separate remarks, Sahhaf said he had proved to Annan "clearly with documents that Iraq has nothing of so-called proscribed weapons," so the UN Security Council should immediately lift the 10-year-old sanctions, said the agency.
Sahhaf added there would be no return for any inspectors in Iraq, "even if sanctions are totally lifted."
The talks were the first high-level substantive contact between the two sides since December 1998, when UN arms inspectors left Iraq for the last time.
The talks coincided with a visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to the Middle East where he discussed the revision of Iraqi sanctions with Arab leaders.
The official told reporters Powell had been persuaded of the wisdom of easing or entirely removing restrictions on civilian goods while tightening them on military items.
The official said Powell hoped to achieve a consensus with friendly Arab states and with the other four permanent members of the Security Council by March 27, the date of the next Arab summit, to be held in Jordan.
The council said the sanctions could be suspended only when Iraq re-admits the inspectors and would not be removed until all weapons of mass destruction have been eliminated.
The council is divided over the effectiveness of its sanctions policy, and over the impact sanctions have had on the Iraqi people and their implications for the oil market, said the Washington Post newspaper.
Annan said "there has been movement in capitals as to their own thinking and their own approach," and added this was "an important and healthy shift."
Until now, he said, "the attitude has been 'this is our policy, this is the way we do things'."
"The council has been busy, and there is a new US administration that is also reviewing the situation," Annan added.
"There is lots of movement that can affect the way we go."
Diplomats said until the United States refined its policy, there was little Annan could do but listen to the Iraqi position.
"I will not exclude the fact that we may have to come back together," Annan told reporters before Monday morning's session, which began with a 20-minute private talk with Sahhaf, said the Post.
Sahhaf said on arriving at UN headquarters "the secretary general is a man of dialogue among the member states of the United Nations whenever there is a need for dialogue."
But the Iraqi official's remarks contained no hint of compromise, said AFP.
"We are going to explain in detail Iraq's position in regard to all aspects of all Security Council resolutions on the basis that Iraq has met all the requirements of those resolutions," he said.
Asked what proposals he had brought to the meeting, Sahhaf replied: "we did not bring anything. We bring our position and we are going to explain it."
The inspectors should start with Israel, Sahhaf said, "because they have the atomic arsenal and all the other arsenals of mass destruction," the Post said - Albawaba.com
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