UN, Iraq to Resume Dialogue on March

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri have agreed to a one-day meeting at the UN headquarters in New York on March 7 to resume their dialogue, a UN spokesman said in New York Monday.

"The secretary-general expects to have focused discussion on the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions, including the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq," the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.

The spokesman told a press briefing that Sabri had time for only one day of talks because he had to meet other Arab foreign ministers preparing a summit meeting, but "the Iraqis have indicated that they are willing to continue the dialogue after April 5."

The Arab League summit is scheduled to take place in Beirut on March 27-28.

With threats of military strikes mounting from Washington, Iraq earlier this month asked for the talks but had not set a date.

Iraq and Annan have held previous talks, the last ones in February 2001. But the secretary-general declined to hold a follow-up round last year because key UN Security Council members had no common policy. The council, rather than Annan, has the final say on Iraqi policies.

The arms inspectors, whose task is to check on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, left the country in mid-December 1998, shortly before a US-British bombing raid. They have not been allowed to return since then.

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2002)