Britain promises flexibility on Iraq inspections

Britain promised yesterday to show flexibility towards Baghdad if it opened talks to resume UN weapons inspections in Iraq, a key condition for the suspension of sanctions. Speaking on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War, junior Foreign Office minister Peter Hain said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would find "reasonable people ready to do business" if he signalled a readiness to negotiate.

"I think everybody would want to show goodwill, and everybody would want to show flexibility," Hain told Reuters in an interview. Hain insisted that a December 1999 UN resolution on arms inspections, which Iraq has consistently rejected, would remain the bedrock of any talks between Baghdad and the United Nations.

But faced with growing demands from the Arab world, Russia and France for an end to the suffering of Iraqi civilians, Hain said Britain - Washington's most steadfast ally against Saddam - was anxious to see the stalemate broken.

"I want to see sanctions suspended. Britain wants to see sanctions suspended, and the route for that remains (UN resolution) 1284," he said. The resolution promises a suspension of sanctions six months after the resumption of arms inspections, broken off in 1998 when U.S. and British forces bombed Iraq in retaliation for Baghdad's alleged non-cooperation.

"If (Saddam) was willing, even without prejudice to final acceptance of 1284, to discuss with the UN the terms on which arms inspectors would operate and the modalities of suspension of sanctions, I think he would find reasonable people willing to do business," Hain said. He said the "flexibility" on offer to Iraq would depend on what Saddam brought to the talks.

It could include the manner of weapons inspections, areas where the inspectors went and the terms of their operations. In terms of sanctions suspension it could cover where the oil revenues went, what would remain under UN control, and easing restrictions on Iraqi business people, Hain said.

"So there is this way of moving forward. It is not as if... Britain is saying this stalemate should have concrete put around it and we are not willing to talk," he said. Hain has been one of Saddam's most outspoken critics, highlighting allegations of human rights abuses, corruption and reports of continued work on illicit Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in an effort to maintain pressure on Baghdad.

But British diplomats have privately signalled unease at the continued impasse over sanctions and said Britain would try to persuade the United States to end patrols over the no-fly zone in southern Iraq, which they said were risky and costly and a source of resentment in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

"We'd prefer British pilots were doing something else," Hain said, though they would continue the patrols as long as Saddam was seen as a threat to his neighbours and his own Shi'ite and Kurdish populations.

He said London had begun talks on Iraq with the incoming administration of President-elect George W. Bush, whose officials have talked of more robust U.S. action against Baghdad - a step which would widen international divisions on Iraq. But Hain played down the chances of a sharp change in U.S. policy.

"A new team, whatever people say in opposition in the middle of campaigns, has to come into office and grapple with the realities of current circumstances," he said.