United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan began in Vienna on Thursday a third round of discussions with Iraq’s foreign minister, Naji Sabri in a bid to convince Baghdad to allow international inspectors resume their mission, which had been suspended since the year 1998.
Emerging from four hours of closed talks, U.N. officials and Saddam Hussein's representatives said that they had made some progress toward returning U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared he was "satisfied" with the session. But he sidestepped the question of whether a deal was near that would let inspectors back in Iraq for the first time in 3 years.
"We exchanged views in a serious and earnest manner," Sabri said, standing next to Annan.
Earlier, United Nations spokesman Fred Eckhard said that Kofi Annan wished he would receive a confirmation from Iraq on the return of inspectors, since it is a radical point that would prove Iraq's abidance by UN resolutions.
The UN Chief is accompanied by Hans Blix, the executive chairman of the UN monitoring, verification and inspection commission (UNMOVIC), the international atomic energy agency (IAEA)'s director general Mohamed al-Baradei, Hans Korel, legal advisor of the UN, Yuli Vorontsov, UN coordinator for Kuwaiti POWs and looted properties and other experts.
The Iraqi delegation, for its part, comprises of ten members, including diplomats and arms experts, KUNA added.
Meanwhile, American warplanes bombed an Iraqi air defense system Thursday after coming under attack from Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery, the U.S. military said.
The aircraft were making routine patrols when Iraqi forces fired artillery at them near the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. European Command said in a statement. (Albawaba.com)
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