ARABS-UN - Sept. 19 - Annan Sees No Sign Iraq will Accept Inspectors.

UN Secretary-Gen. Annan says he doesn't see any sign that Iraq is ready to admit UN weapons inspectors, as familiar conflicts resurface among members of the Security Council on the issue of sanctions. Annan, who met on Sept. 18 with Iraq FM Aziz, says: "It wasn't evident in their talks that inspectors would be allowed in the country", adding: "In this life I don't think one can say never or forever". (UN sanctions were imposed shortly after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's military invaded Kuwait in 1990, provoking the Gulf War. The sanctions can only be lifted when UN weapons inspectors certify that Iraq's biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs - and any missiles to deliver such weapons - have been destroyed. Saddam Hussein has barred entry to inspectors since they left Iraq following Operation Desert Fox, a 1998 military operation in which 100 targets in Iraq were targeted by the US.) Annan says he and Aziz did not discuss the oil market, referring to the oil-for-food program, which allows Iraq to sell oil as long as half of the proceeds are used to buy essentials for the Iraqi people. (Iraq has recently accused Kuwait of stealing its oil, and the US has said it is ready to use force against Iraq if it threatens its neighbours. Kuwait denied the oil theft charge, similar to accusations levelled by Baghdad in 1990 before it invaded the Gulf emirate. Critics have blamed the UN sanctions for Iraq's economic decline and an increase in malnutrition, disease and deaths in the country. The US has repeatedly countered that those problems are the fault of Saddam Hussein.) Annan says a desire to break the impasse between Iraq and the UN was evident during the recent Millennium Summit in New York, where many of the FMs said they want to "get Iraq to cooperate".