Iraq promises to help UN hunt for its own weapons

Iraq promised UN weapons inspectors more help yesterday, saying it was even forming its own teams to search for banned weapons.

After two days of showdown talks with chief UN arms inspectors, held as US and British leaders warned Iraq was on course for war, Baghdad's officials were eager to appear conciliatory.

President Saddam Hussein's adviser Amir al-Saadi read a joint statement at a news conference in Baghdad with visiting inspection chiefs Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei.

It said Iraq had handed more documents to inspectors, was clarifying others and was forming its own teams to search for suspicious items. UN inspectors discovered empty chemical warheads last week which Iraq had failed to report to the United Nations; Iraq said it had forgotten about them.

The statement said Iraq would also encourage inspections of "private sites" - an apparent reference to places like the homes of leading scientists - and to "private interviews" - referring to talks between UN inspectors and Iraqi technical experts without the presence of Iraqi government minders.

A cautious Blix said he was "fairly confident" Iraq would honour its pledges. "We have solved a number of practical issues, not all," he told the news conference.

"On the substantive issues relating to anthrax, VX (nerve agent) and a number of Scud missiles, we have not discussed that. That is to be discussed some time in the future."

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday the world "must not shrink" from confronting Iraq if it fails to disarm as China, Germany and France expressed reservations about the use of force.

"We cannot fail to take the action that may be necessary because we are afraid of what others might do," Powell told the UN council. "We cannot be shocked into impotence because we are afraid of the difficult choices that are ahead of us."

"However difficult the road ahead may be with respect to Iraq, we must not shrink from the need to travel down that road," he added during a Council meeting on counter-terrorism that was overshadowed by the conflict with Iraq.

There was no mention in the statement of taking scientists outside Iraq for interviews, as Washington has demanded on the grounds that the interviewees need protection from reprisals.

The statement said Iraq would supplement a list of around 500 scientists involved in its past banned weapons programmes.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Cassoulides said later yesterday Cyprus had agreed to a request by weapons inspectors to provide facilities for interviews on the island if needed.

"We were officially contacted by the UN last week on such a possibility," he told Reuters.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of Britain, Washington's staunchest supporter on Iraq, said a November UN Security Council resolution, warning Iraq of "serious consequences" if it violates its obligations, was sufficient authorisation for war.