France told Iraq it would be making a very serious mistake if it was counting on a gradual erosion of UN sanctions without meeting its obligation to allow UN inspectors to resume arms searches.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said that on Wednesday he delivered the warning during a meeting on Monday with Iraq's deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, the highest-ranking Iraqi to visit New York since the UN security council established a New weapons inspection agency in December.
UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in December 1998 ahead of US and British airstrikes, launched to punish Iraq for failing to cooperate with arms searches. Iraq has barred inspectors from returning - and has repeatedly said that it won't deal with the council's new Iraq policy.
Aziz gave no hint of any change in Baghdad's longstanding opposition in his meeting with Vedrine. “Unfortunately, I do not see any short-term change in the offing, and I certainly regret that,” Vedrine told a meeting of UN correspondents.
Under UN resolutions adopted after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, sanctions cannot be lifted until UN inspectors report Iraq is free of its weapons of mass destruction. The Security Council resolution adopted last December - which Iraq rejects, calls for inspectors to determine Iraq's remaining disarmament tasks.
It authorises the council to consider suspending sanctions for renewable 120-day periods if inspectors report that Iraq has cooperated in all respects and shown progress towards answering outstanding disarmament questions. Bureau Report