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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 February 2000 Issue No. 467 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 February 2000 Issue No. 467
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Special Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters New inspector, old hurdles
By Salah HemeidVeteran Swedish diplomat Hans Blix was in Antarctica last week when his mobile phone rang repeatedly, disturbing his holiday in the tranquil pole. The call came from the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm conveying the message that his government encouraged him to accept the top post of a new UN agency charged with disarming Iraq.
Earlier, the 71-year-old retired executive director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been contacted by French and UN diplomats who had nominated him for the unpopular job, following the UN Security Council's disagreement over the first candidate for the position, Rolf Ekeus, another Swede.
Well-aware of the conflicts the holder of the post would be embroiled in, Blix, a former foreign minister and long-time career diplomat, had turned down the offer. But after the ministry's call, he changed his mind and accepted the nomination. Apparently his government convinced him to take the job by saying that this would help Sweden, especially since Iraq's supporters in the Security Council -- France, Russia and China -- rejected his compatriot Ekeus.
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan formally appointed Blix as chief executive of UNMOVIC (UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission for Iraq) after the 15-member Security Council approved him. "I expect Dr Blix to take up his mandated tasks as soon as possible," said Annan. He cited Security Council Resolution 1284, which requires Iraq to cooperate with the new agency replacing UNSCOM, the weapons inspection commission which President Saddam Hussein's government refused to cooperate with after the December 1998 US and British airstrikes.
Iraq immediately announced its refusal to deal with Blix, despite the council's unanimous backing, explaining that it had problems with the UN resolution that created the new inspection agency, not necessarily with Blix himself. "The matter is more complicated than the issue of Blix or the naming of a new commission," said Nizar Hamdoon, Iraq's deputy foreign minister. Still, Iraq stopped short of flatly rejecting Blix. In what could be a positive sign Babel, the newspaper run by Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday, gloated over Blix's appointment, saying that it would "surely disappoint the hopes of US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright", who preferred Ekeus.
The United States, meanwhile, said the agreement on Blix was a breakthrough for the council and warned Baghdad against blocking the return of the UN arms inspectors. Washington also pledged that the nearly 10-year-old crippling economic sanctions would remain until Iraq complies with the UN resolutions issued following its invasion of Kuwait. State Department Spokesman James Rubin said a new impasse over Iraq's prohibited weapons would be tantamount to Baghdad's "shooting itself in the foot".
Despite Blix's unanimous backing, many diplomats and observers say the Security Council's rare unity may be short-lived, as the Swedish diplomat will face serious challenges in his mission to ensure that Iraq is free of non-conventional weapons. At the top of Blix's agenda is the outlining of a plan to resume inspections in Iraq. This plan should be developed and presented to the Security Council within 45 days of his taking the job. It should include proposing members for the commission, working out a mechanism for inspections and monitoring and creating a list of key outstanding issues concerning Iraq's disarmament.
These initial tasks are expected to cause political disputes within the Security Council. While the United States and Britain want Blix to include members of UNSCOM, France, China, and Russia are advocating greater representation of non-Western countries. Under Security Council Resolution 1284, the council is given a larger role in determining how the new agency will manage Iraq's disarmament activities, a provision that will probably lead to more wrangling in the council.
Iraq might be ready to cooperate with the new agency, indicated the ruling Baath Party's newspaper Al-Thawra on Sunday, in return for easier terms for inspections. Yet Baghdad's perennial question remains -- will such cooperation lead to a complete lifting of the embargo or only its temporary suspension as stipulated in the resolution?
Given Washington's hard-line stances on Iraq at the UN, it is widely believed that it still views the sanctions as an instrument in its containment policy against Saddam Hussein's regime. US officials have balked at a plan previously agreed on by the UN to dramatically speed the delivery of humanitarian supplies to Iraq under the "oil-for-food" programme. The Americans claim that since there are no weapons inspectors in Iraq at present, more than two days are needed for the delivery of goods to prevent items with a potential military use from slipping through. Annan himself and several Security Council members insisted that the two-day approval period will suffice. The Iraqis fear the Americans will continue to use such tactics to keep the weapons files open and the sanctions in place, claiming that Blix, who Washington accepted reluctantly, may be a man of "questionable integrity" and "uncertain resolve", according to Iraq's official press.
