SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH IRAQ'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER EXPRESSES REGRET AT FAILURE OF DIPLOMATIC EFFORT

Press Release
SG/SM/6392

SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH IRAQ'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER EXPRESSES REGRET AT FAILURE OF DIPLOMATIC EFFORT

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary- General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General met with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz of Iraq this morning at 10 a.m.

The Deputy Prime Minister had come to say goodbye and to inform the Secretary-General of Iraq's decision to expel United States members of the United Nations inspection mission.

The United Nations could continue its normal work, Mr. Aziz said, with personnel of other nationalities. However, U-2 flights must cease, although Iraq hoped to avoid a military confrontation.

Mr. Aziz assured the Secretary-General that Iraq did not want a confrontation with the United Nations and did not want an escalation of current tensions. He hoped that the United Nations Special Commission would continue its inspections until a diplomatic solution could be found. Iraq wished to continue a dialogue to that end.

The Secretary-General responded that the situation could have been resolved through diplomatic effort, which is why he sent his team to Baghdad and worked with the Security Council to find a solution. It is regrettable, he said, that these strenuous efforts had not been successful.

The matter is now in the hands of the Security Council.

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