New inspector, old hurdles
By Salah Hemeid
Veteran Swedish diplomat Hans Blix was in Antarctica last week when his
mobile phone rang repeatedly, disturbing his holiday in the tranquil pole.
The call came from the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm conveying the message
that his government encouraged him to accept the top post of a new UN agency
charged with disarming Iraq.

Earlier, the 71-year-old retired executive director of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been contacted by French and UN diplomats
who had nominated him for the unpopular job, following the UN Security
Council's disagreement over the first candidate for the position, Rolf
Ekeus, another Swede.

Well-aware of the conflicts the holder of the post would be embroiled in,
Blix, a former foreign minister and long-time career diplomat, had turned
down the offer. But after the ministry's call, he changed his mind and
accepted the nomination. Apparently his government convinced him to take the
job by saying that this would help Sweden, especially since Iraq's
supporters in the Security Council -- France, Russia and China -- rejected
his compatriot Ekeus.

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan formally appointed Blix as
chief executive of UNMOVIC (UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission for Iraq) after the 15-member Security Council approved him. "I
expect Dr Blix to take up his mandated tasks as soon as possible," said
Annan. He cited Security Council Resolution 1284, which requires Iraq to
cooperate with the new agency replacing UNSCOM, the weapons inspection
commission which President Saddam Hussein's government refused to cooperate
with after the December 1998 US and British airstrikes.

Iraq immediately announced its refusal to deal with Blix, despite the
council's unanimous backing, explaining that it had problems with the UN
resolution that created the new inspection agency, not necessarily with Blix
himself. "The matter is more complicated than the issue of Blix or the
naming of a new commission," said Nizar Hamdoon, Iraq's deputy foreign
minister. Still, Iraq stopped short of flatly rejecting Blix. In what could
be a positive sign Babel, the newspaper run by Saddam Hussein's eldest son
Uday, gloated over Blix's appointment, saying that it would "surely
disappoint the hopes of US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright", who
preferred Ekeus.

The United States, meanwhile, said the agreement on Blix was a breakthrough
for the council and warned Baghdad against blocking the return of the UN
arms inspectors. Washington also pledged that the nearly 10-year-old
crippling economic sanctions would remain until Iraq complies with the UN
resolutions issued following its invasion of Kuwait. State Department
Spokesman James Rubin said a new impasse over Iraq's prohibited weapons
would be tantamount to Baghdad's "shooting itself in the foot".

Despite Blix's unanimous backing, many diplomats and observers say the
Security Council's rare unity may be short-lived, as the Swedish diplomat
will face serious challenges in his mission to ensure that Iraq is free of
non-conventional weapons. At the top of Blix's agenda is the outlining of a
plan to resume inspections in Iraq. This plan should be developed and
presented to the Security Council within 45 days of his taking the job. It
should include proposing members for the commission, working out a mechanism
for inspections and monitoring and creating a list of key outstanding issues
concerning Iraq's disarmament.

These initial tasks are expected to cause political disputes within the
Security Council. While the United States and Britain want Blix to include
members of UNSCOM, France, China, and Russia are advocating greater
representation of non-Western countries. Under Security Council Resolution
1284, the council is given a larger role in determining how the new agency
will manage Iraq's disarmament activities, a provision that will probably
lead to more wrangling in the council.

Iraq might be ready to cooperate with the new agency, indicated the ruling
Baath Party's newspaper Al-Thawra on Sunday, in return for easier terms for
inspections. Yet Baghdad's perennial question remains -- will such
cooperation lead to a complete lifting of the embargo or only its temporary
suspension as stipulated in the resolution?

Given Washington's hard-line stances on Iraq at the UN, it is widely
believed that it still views the sanctions as an instrument in its
containment policy against Saddam Hussein's regime. US officials have balked
at a plan previously agreed on by the UN to dramatically speed the delivery
of humanitarian supplies to Iraq under the "oil-for-food" programme. The
Americans claim that since there are no weapons inspectors in Iraq at
present, more than two days are needed for the delivery of goods to prevent
items with a potential military use from slipping through. Annan himself and
several Security Council members insisted that the two-day approval period
will suffice. The Iraqis fear the Americans will continue to use such
tactics to keep the weapons files open and the sanctions in place, claiming
that Blix, who Washington accepted reluctantly, may be a man of
"questionable integrity" and "uncertain resolve", according to Iraq's
official press.