UN: Eckhard on Talks for Iraqi Compliance with Weapons Inspections-04-23-02

BRIEFING BY FRED ECKHARD
SPOKESMAN FOR THE U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL

Office of the Spokesman

23 April 2002

Excerpts

. . .

SPOKESMAN ECKHARD: We can finally confirm that the Secretary-General's next round of talks with representatives of Iraq will take place here at Headquarters from Wednesday,1 May, through Friday, 3 May. The reason for the three-day span is that the Secretary-General may be called out of town on Thursday the 2nd.

On the Secretary-General's side, there will be Hans Blix, the head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and Mohammed El-Baradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Iraqi delegation will be headed by Foreign Minister Naji Sabri.

. . .

QUESTION: What does the presence of the IAEA indicate or mean at this session?

SPOKESMAN: The original resolution, of course, gave a role to the inspectors and a separate role to the IAEA. So, I think this just allows the Secretary-General to focus more fully on the disarmament provisions in the resolution.

. . .

QUESTION: I don’t want you to have to repeat other quotes from other places. I know you have announced this, but for those who may be just tuning in as you announce Iraq is coming. What does the United Nations hope to achieve at these talks? Will there be pressure for Iraq to say "we’ll let them in," the inspectors?

SPOKESMAN: The objective is for Iraq to come into full compliance with Security Council resolutions and specifically -- and probably first and foremost, as far as these talks are concerned -- allowing United Nations inspectors back to Iraq to finish the verification of the disarmament in terms of weapons of mass destruction.

. . .

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Search WMD profiles Iraqi entities of concern Iraq's suppliers UN documents Government documents Controlled items Perspectives	BRIEFING BY FRED ECKHARD SPOKESMAN FOR THE U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL Office of the Spokesman 23 April 2002 *Excerpts* . . . SPOKESMAN ECKHARD: We can finally confirm that the Secretary-General's next round of talks with representatives of Iraq will take place here at Headquarters from Wednesday,1 May, through Friday, 3 May. The reason for the three-day span is that the Secretary-General may be called out of town on Thursday the 2nd. On the Secretary-General's side, there will be Hans Blix, the head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and Mohammed El-Baradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Iraqi delegation will be headed by Foreign Minister Naji Sabri. . . . QUESTION: What does the presence of the IAEA indicate or mean at this session? SPOKESMAN: The original resolution, of course, gave a role to the inspectors and a separate role to the IAEA. So, I think this just allows the Secretary-General to focus more fully on the disarmament provisions in the resolution. . . . QUESTION: I don’t want you to have to repeat other quotes from other places. I know you have announced this, but for those who may be just tuning in as you announce Iraq is coming. What does the United Nations hope to achieve at these talks? Will there be pressure for Iraq to say "we’ll let them in," the inspectors? SPOKESMAN: The objective is for Iraq to come into full compliance with Security Council resolutions and specifically -- and probably first and foremost, as far as these talks are concerned -- allowing United Nations inspectors back to Iraq to finish the verification of the disarmament in terms of weapons of mass destruction. . . .