Kofi Annan defers trip to hear Butler’s woes

After the briefing by Bulter, the Council will hold consultations which could last a few days before officially reacting to the breakdown of talks.

Butler met Annan earlier to apprise him of the aborted talks and said he had instructed the inspection teams to continue with their work as usual.

He said the talks broke down after Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz demanded that the commission, entrusted with overseeing elimination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, declare that all sucharsenal had been accounted for. But Butler said he told Aziz that he could not do so. “I need evidence.”When he asked Aziz whether they should continue talks the next day, Butler said Aziz told him not unless “I was prepared in advance to agree” to the Iraqi stand.

A report quoted Butler as saying the commission had been nearer closing files on chemical weapons and missiles but not on biological weapons. The destruction of nuclear weapons is the responsibility of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The commission says it has not yet been able to account for all materials of the biological weapons programme and accuses Iraq of withholding information.Butler also claimed the document which the UNSCOM and Iraqi officials had sealed after the latter refused to hand it over to the inspectors was not given to him.

The documents were expected to be considered at the Butler-Aziz meeting. Iraq also demanded shifting of the UNSCOM headquarters from New York to Geneva or Vienna and an overhaul ofthe commission’s personnel, including a new chief inspector to replace Butler. The demands are apparently aimed at removing, what Iraq considers, American influence over the commission.