Annan gives Iraq 'last chance' for inspections

UNITED NATIONS -- Calling Iraq's failure to comply with U.N. demands to disarm a grave international challenge, Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday backed a new U.N. resolution that would toughen weapons inspections and urged Baghdad to use this "last chance."\nIf Iraq fails to comply, the Security Council "will have to face its responsibilities," he said.\nAnnan's statement was read by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette at the start of a two-day open meeting of the Security Council where any of the United Nations' 191 member states can speak before the council votes on a new resolution. So far, all 15 council members and 52 nonmembers have signed up to speak.\nThe council's five permanent, veto-holding members are divided over the next move of the powerful body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security.\nThe United States and Britain are demanding a single resolution authorizing military force if Iraq does not comply with inspectors.\nPresident Bush signed the Congressional resolution authorizing military action against Iraq on Wednesday and urged the United Nations to "face up to our global responsibility" to confront Iraq.\nChina, France and Russia insist that Iraq must be given a chance to cooperate with inspectors before any green light is given for military action.\nThe open Security Council meeting will take the debate out from behind closed doors and into a public forum for the first time.\nWarning that the world body's "authority and credibility" will suffer if the council is divided, Annan appealed for members to unite not only on a resolution but in achieving a comprehensive solution "that includes the suspension and eventual ending of the sanctions that are causing such hardship for the Iraqi people."\nThis is a key demand of the Iraqi government.\nUnder sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, U.N. weapons inspectors must certify that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been dismantled.\nInspectors left in December 1998, ahead of U.S. and British airstrikes to punish Iraq for not complying with inspectors, and Saddam Hussein's government barred them from returning _ until last month.\nAnnan said Iraq's announcement that inspectors can return without conditions "is a first step, but only a first step."\n"Full compliance remains indispensable, and it has not yet happened," he said. "Iraq has to comply. ... The inspectors must have unfettered access. This council will expect nothing less. It may well choose to pass a new resolution strengthening the inspectors' hand, so that there are no weaknesses or ambiguities."\n"I consider that such a step would be appropriate. The new measures must be firm, effective, credible and reasonable. If Iraq fails to make use of this last chance, and defiance continues, the council will have to face its responsibilities," Annan said.\nIraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri reiterated Iraq's desire for inspectors to return quickly, but focused much of his speech on criticizing the United States for threatening war against Iraq.\nThe United States is attempting "to hamper the return of inspectors," he said, and its position on Iraq is "a first step toward imposing American colonialism in the region as a whole, controlling its oil, and allowing Israel to continue its genocide against the Palestinian people."\nThe council meeting was requested by the Nonaligned Movement of some 130 mainly developing countries who are seeking a peaceful settlement of the U.N. dispute with Iraq.\nSouth Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, whose country chairs the movement, urged the council to "seize the possibility of a peaceful solution" and allow inspectors to return to Iraq as soon as possible.\nOpposing any authorization of force before they return, he said the council must not prejudge the work of the inspectors "before they set foot in Iraq."\nKuwait's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Abulhasan declared that "any use of force must be a last resort and within the U.N. framework and only after all other available means have been exhausted."\nIn Baghdad, Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of Revolutionary Command Council and Saddam's No. 2 man, said: "We hope there will be no new resolution, and if there is, we will deal with it then."\nOn Tuesday, chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said an advance team of U.N. inspectors will not head to Iraq until after the Security Council decides on a resolution that may contain new instructions. Iraq hoped the advance team would arrive Saturday.\nWhile the Security Council met, high-level contacts were continuing in key capitals.\nOn Wednesday, Russia's deputy foreign minister said the U.S.-backed resolution is unacceptable, while France's proposal is closer to the Kremlin's stance.\n"The American variant of the resolution on Iraq has not undergone changes. It is unacceptable and Russia cannot support it," Yuri Fedotov said, according to the news agency Interfax.