Annan Formulates Reply to Iraq's Offer for Talks

07/08/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS:Jordan & Turkey Fear Impact of Iraq Attack||UK Clergy Urge against Iraq Strike||Schroeder Warns Attack against Iraq Could Endanger Anti-terror Coalition|| STORY: Secretary-General Kofi Annan planned to tell Iraq on Tuesday the chief U.N. arms inspector would go to Baghdad for talks if Iraq showed willingness to allow weapons inspectors back into the country after a nearly four-year hiatus, diplomats said.

Annan was consulting with chief arms inspector Hans Blix, on vacation in his native Sweden, while drafting a reply to Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

The Iraqi minister last week asked Blix to visit Baghdad for technical talks on suspected weapons of mass destruction programs and hinted the arms experts would be able to return.

"I don't think it should be dismissed," Annan said of the invitation. "But my concern is with the agenda and how it proceeds," he told CNN television.

JORDAN & TURKEY FEAR IMPACT OF IRAQ ATTACK

U.S. allies Jordan and Turkey expressed fears Tuesday about the effect on regional stability of any U.S. attack on their mutual neighbor Iraq.

Jordanian Prime Minister Abu al-Ragheb was quoted as telling Turkish Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel a U.S.-led attack would "have disastrous economic and human consequences on Iraq and regional stability."

"We certainly agree with the Jordanian position and share the same concerns. We feel every problem in the region should be settled through peaceful means," Gurel, on a visit to Jordan, said after talks with Ragheb.

Both Jordan and Turkey have extensive economic and trade ties with Baghdad. Iraq tops Jordan's export list and the kingdom depends on Baghdad for its oil consumption.

Jordanian officials denied they were involved in any secret plans to mount an attack against Iraq.

U.K. CLERGY URGE AGAINST IRAQ STRIKE

Top Anglican and Roman Catholic clergy on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to oppose a military strike on Iraq without U.N. approval.

"It is our considered view that an attack on Iraq would be both immoral and illegal, and that eradicating the dangers posed by malevolent dictators and terrorists can be achieved only by tackling the root causes of the disputes themselves," the clergy said in a declaration presented to the prime minister's office at 10 Downing St. in London Tuesday.

The statement, written by the Christian peace movement Pax Christi, was signed by several thousand people, including Rowan Williams, the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the world's 70 million Anglicans.

Other signatories included Anglican bishops John Perry and Peter Price and Roman Catholic bishops Malcolm McMahon, Thomas McMahon and Edwin Regan, along with Baptist, Presbyterian, Quaker and Methodist groups.

SCHROEDER WARNS AN ATTACK ON IRAQ COULD ENDANGER ANTI-TERROR COALITION

A U.S. attack on Iraq could endanger the international coalition against terrorism, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in a letter to be printed Wednesday.

Schroeder has been one of the United States' staunchest allies in the war on terrorism since Sept. 11, but said an attack could have dire consequences.

Late last month, Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac made a joint statement that the United States must seek United Nations approval before any attack on Bagdad.

Germany's stance has hardened since then, with Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on Monday saying his Greens party rejects any participation in military action against Iraq. That same day, the secretary general of Schroeder's party said that even with U.N. approval, Germany would not feel obligated to take up arms.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Iraqi police officer guards the main gate of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad in this Thursday, July 11, 2002 file photo. This bulding is the main center for the U.N. weapons inspectors when based in Baghdad. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will send a letter to Iraq on Tuesday Aug. 6, 2002, seeking to clarify whether President Saddam Hussein is prepared to accept the return of U.N. weapons inspectors under the conditions laid down by the Security Council. (AP Photo/Jassim Mohammed)