IRAQ: UN WEAPONS INSPECTIONS TEAM BEGINS SEARCH MISSION скачать в хорошем качестве

IRAQ: UN WEAPONS INSPECTIONS TEAM BEGINS SEARCH MISSION

(26 Mar 1998) English/Nat With a bus load of U-N senior diplomats in tow, U-N weapons inspectors have set off on Thursday on the first search of one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's palace compounds. The group of 20 diplomats is accompanying the inspectors under an agreement between Iraq and U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which lifted the threat of U-S and British military strikes over Iraq's initial refusal to open up the compounds. It's the day that Richard Butler, the chief of the U-N weapons inspections team, has been waiting for. Finally he, and the weapons inspectors, get to see inside one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces. The Iraqi president's refusal to allow the U-N access to his palaces sparked a tense stand off which resulted in a huge military build up in the Gulf - mainly by the U-S and Britain. They were threatening to launch air strikes against Iraq unless it allowed them to see if he was storing weapons of mass destruction in his palaces. It is only once all the sites have been inspected that sanctions, put in place after the Gulf War 1991, can be lifted. But there is one crucial difference about these inspections- the presence of diplomats like Jayantha Dhanapala. The stage for the inspections was set on Wednesday night when Dhanapala, sent a written notice to the Iraqi government. He refuted the argument that such notice took away the element of surprise so important to weapons inspections. SOUNDBITE: (English) "No, because we do not know where we are going and what particular site is going to be visited at this point in time. Thank you." SUPER CAPTION: Jayantha Dhanapala, Sri Lankan diplomat The diplomats are accompanying the disarmament experts under the February 23rd agreement between Iraq and U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Iraq had cited national sovereignty in keeping the palaces off limits, and the presence of the diplomats now is meant to protect the country's dignity during the searches. The inspectors and diplomats left in more than 20 four-wheel drive vans and two minibuses from the U-N inspection teams' headquarters in Baghdad after the envoys were briefed on their mission. The inspectors will be visiting one of the eight presidential sites spread across the country that Iraq has agreed to open. The sites occupy an area of 31.5 square kilometres (12.5 square miles) and 1,058 buildings. Diplomatic sources suggested that the first inspection could be of a compound in Radwaniyah outside Baghdad. Butler said on Tuesday that the inspections will last about two weeks but he did not rule out future visits. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...