The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, clashed with Washington yesterday over the enforcement of no-fly zones in Iraq by American and British warplanes.
It is unusual for Annan to rebuke Washington. Equally rarely, Britain distanced itself, at least in private, from the US to line up behind Mr Annan.
The Bush administration claims anti-aircraft fire by Iraq constitutes a breach of the UN security council resolution on Iraq and, potentially, is a trigger for war.
But Annan, entering the fray for the first time since the resolution was passed, was adamant that the anti-aircraft fire did not amount to a breach. ”Let me say that I don’t think that the council will say this is in contravention of the resolution of the security council,” he told reporters during a visit to Kosovo.
After his intervention Washington found itself isolated: no support for its position could be found among the other 14 members of the security council, not even Britain.
The row came as the advance team of UN weapons inspectors, who arrived in Baghdad on Monday, held talks with their Iraqi counterparts.
Mohammed el-Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which will search for any nuclear weapons components, predicted that Iraq will easily meet the December 8 deadline for providing a full declaration of all banned weapons or components for such weapons it might have in its possession.
”[Iraq] will declare all of its activities in the chemical, biological and nuclear fields, even those of civilian use,” he told Associated Press.
He said that so far, the Iraqis were cooperating with the inspectors. ”We hope that this oral commitment will be translated into fact when we begin inspections next week.”
The advance team is to try to re-establish a headquarters at Baghdad’s Canal Hotel. Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for the UN inspectors, said: ”There’s a lot of dust to clear out.”
The first of the inspectors who will conduct the weapons hunt are scheduled to arrive on Monday, part of a team of 13 that will include a Briton and an American.
The issue of no-fly zones came to a head on Monday after US and British planes attacked Iraq for the fourth day out of five. A White House representative, Scott McClellan, said on Monday: ”The United States believes that firing upon our aircraft in the no-fly zone or British aircraft is a violation. It is a material breach.”
But the Russian foreign ministry said yesterday that claims of a violation of the resolution had ”no legal grounds”.
The contentious passage in the resolution says that Iraq shall not take or threaten any hostile acts against any representative or personnel of the UN or any member state.
The US claims this includes attacks on US and British planes. But a security council source said that it was made clear to everyone at the time of the negotiations that it referred only to Iraq obstructing the work of the inspectors.
Downing Street yesterday denied suggestions of a split between Britain and the US. Asked about the US claim, the prime minister’s representative said: ”It is a violation of UN resolutions to fire at enemy aircraft in the no-fly zone. It is a matter for the security council to decide what to do about it.”
The latest UN resolution on Iraq covered earlier resolutions, he said, adding: ”I don’t really think we should get into theological debates over resolutions — I don’t think people should look for splits between the security council and us where none exists.”
But other Whitehall sources admitted in private that the attacks did not constitute a violation and that the US would not get support for its position. – Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001