Russia wants UNSCOM out

Key powers, US and Britain, which advocate a hardline approach towards Iraq, quickly rejected the seven-point proposal, saying the UNSCOM and the International Atomic Agency (IAEA) should go back to Iraq to continue unfinished disarmament work.

Talking to media persons yesterday US ambassador to the UN Peter Burleigh rejected the Russian proposal outright insisting that the question at stake was how to get the inspectors back into Iraq to implement the UN resolutions.Although Baghdad has so far not reacted tothe proposal, the Russian initiative is likely to find favour with Iraq, which has dubbed the UNSCOM a `pack of US spies’ and repeatedly called for its abolition.

The Russian proposal, will be taken up by the Council, along with those from France and the US, over the weekend.

The Russian proposal also called for sending a fact finding mission to Iraq comprising disarmament experts from as many countries as possible as also IAEA representatives to reassess the status of Iraqi disarmament following the raids. Russia’s proposals follow those from France and US in a search for a new policy on Iraq a month after the US-British raids. They go further than the French proposals which spoke about a `renewed’ arms control commission but did not spell out the fate of UNSCOM.

“The use of force by UK and US resulted in actual termination of UNSCOM activities,” Russia’s paper said. “In order to resume an international monitoring of the Iraqi proscribed military programmes and prevent the reconstruction by Iraq ofits weapons of mass destruction, it is necessary to establish a new body adequate to the new situation”.

The paper also advocates lifting of sanctions on Iraqi exports, such as oil, which are tied to a clean bill of health from arms inspectors that Iraq no longer has dangerous weapons.