Iraq and U.N. open high-level talks

Associated Press WriterUNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Iraq and the United Nations opened their first high-level talks in a year Thursday with an unusual one-on-one meeting between Iraq's foreign minister and Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a signal of the high stakes.

The United States has raised the possibility of expanding its war on terrorism to the oil-rich nation, which it called part of an "axis of evil." On the eve of the talks, U.S. officials hurled a new accusation, charging that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is illegally trying to build up his country's military by converting about 1,000 trucks for military use in violation of U.N. sanctions.

Western diplomats believe hints of a possible U.S. attack brought Iraq's Foreign Minister Naji Sabri to New York for talks with Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the dispute over U.N. sanctions against Baghdad and the return of U.N. weapons inspectors -- a key U.S. demand.

But Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Al-Douri insisted that Saddam's initiative to have a meeting with Annan to try to find a solution that would lift the 11-year-old sanctions "has nothing to do with the ... American threat, absolutely nothing to do with that."

Sabri refused to answer questions about American pressure or the latest U.S. allegations.

As he left U.N. headquarters after the first meeting, which lasted about two hours, Sabri said: "We started our discussions with the secretary-general within a positive and constructive atmosphere and we shall continue in the afternoon."

Annan told reporters before the meeting that he hoped the Iraqis were coming "in a constructive spirit." He said governments friendly with Baghdad "sense some flexibility on the part of Iraq."

Stressing that he would not like to see any widening of the conflict in the Middle East, the secretary-general said: "I would want to see a situation where we are able to resolve our differences diplomatically and that Iraq comes into compliance."

At the start of the meeting in Annan's 38th floor office, the secretary-general and the Iraqi foreign minister met privately for 20 minutes, U.N. officials said. They were then joined by their delegations.

Sabri was accompanied by Al-Douri, Foreign Ministry official Saeed Hasan and Gen. Hussam Mohammed Amin, the Iraqi government's main liaison with U.N. inspectors. Annan's team included the chief U.N. weapons inspector, Hans Blix.

Annan said he hopes that with Amin and Blix in the talks, "we will be able to get into" the subject of returning weapons inspectors, who have been barred from Iraq since they left the country in November 1998.

Still, no major breakthrough is expected.

The Iraqi foreign minister is scheduled to leave New York late Thursday and return home for consultations. The delegation has asked the secretary-general to schedule another round of meetings after April 7 to "continue the efforts to reach agreement," Al-Douri said.

Under the U.N. resolutions, sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons have been eliminated along with the long-range missiles to deliver them.

Iraq has refused to let inspectors back in, insisting it has complied with the resolutions and demanding that sanctions be lifted.

"I hope we will find a constructive way to begin the inspections so they will see a light at the end of the tunnel," Annan said Wednesday night during a question-and-answer session at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Iraq has shown some recent signs of flexibility.

Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan granted 105 new visas to U.N. staff working for the oil-for-food humanitarian program last week, after months of delay.

Iraq also invited Britain to send a team to search for banned weapons. But Britain's U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock dismissed the offer.

Blix said Iraq should redirect the invitation to his organization "because we are ready."

Al-Douri said Iraq was not inviting Blix or his new weapons inspection agency to return because of Baghdad's experience with the old inspection agency, which it has accused of spying.

Iraq goes into the talks with strong backing from Arab nations, which have also made their opposition to any U.S. attack on Baghdad well known.

Several diplomats questioned the timing of the latest U.S. accusations about the alleged Iraqi diversion of trucks, suggesting they were aimed at provoking a confrontation with Baghdad just before the U.N. meeting.

U.S. officials said the timing was pure coincidence.

Six senior U.S. State Department officials presented satellite pictures and video footage to the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions on Iraq, purportedly showing Russian and German trucks imported under the U.N. oil-for-food humanitarian program at military installations.

The committee was shown pictures of trucks towing artillery, but not carrying missiles or rockets.

Under U.N. sanctions, Iraq is barred from importing any equipment for military use.

After a 2 1/2-hour meeting, the sanctions committee decided to ask the U.N. office that implements the oil-for-food program to verify the U.S. information against its own records of truck imports into Iraq and report back.