Qatar's foreign minister arrived in Iraq Monday for talks to try and persuade Baghdad to resume U.N. weapons inspections. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani's state visit was the first by a Gulf Arab foreign minister to Iraq in at least four years and would focus on arms inspections as a key to averting a potential U.S. attack on Iraq. "We will ask Iraq to cooperate and accept resolutions of the United Nations and consider (U.N. weapons) inspectors," al-Thani said. "We are not mediators in this issue, but we are an Arab country and we are trying as best as we can to spare the region new tragedies."

Qatar was the first Gulf Arab country to reopen ties with Iraq after Iraqi forces were expelled from Kuwait by a U.S.-led coalition during the 1991 Gulf War. Qatar was also the third Gulf Arab state to sign a free-trade agreement with Iraq, which has the second largest oil reserves in the world.

Iraq has made various overtures to the United Nations in recent weeks about allowing U.N. arms inspectors to return for the first time in four years. A key condition for easing U.N. sanctions imposed since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 would be a full accounting of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq has said any talks with the United Nations on the inspectors' return should also focus on lifting 12-year-old sanctions and the U.S.- and British-enforced no-fly zones in southern and northern Iraq, imposed since the 1991 Gulf War.

PHOTO CAPTION

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani(L) is seen with Iraqi minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Humam Abdul Khaleq Abdul Ghafur, August 26, 2002 during a press conference at Saddam airport in Baghdad. Al-Thani is in Iraq for talks to try and persuade Baghdad to resume U.N. weapons inspections, Qatari officials said. (Faleh Kheiber/Reuters)