BAGHDAD, July 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri,
Tuesday held the United States responsible for the failure of the latest
round of talks with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Vienna.
"The US pressure on the UN Security Council prevents it from
honoring its obligations toward Iraq and this is considered an obvious
violations of the UN Charter and international laws," Sabritold the
state-run Iraq TV upon his arrival at the Saddam International Airport
after talks with Annan.
He said during the talks with the UN chief, he stressed the
"comprehensive" settlement between Iraq and the United Nations, including
the lifting of the decade-old UN embargo and the preserving of Iraq's
security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Sabri and Annan held talks on July 4-5 and the two sides failed to
reach an agreement on the return of the UN arms inspectors to Iraq, who
withdrew out of the country on the eve of US-British air raid on Baghdad
in December 1998.
The Iraqi foreign minister has accused the United States of
insisting on the return of the arms inspectors "to update the information
they provide to their planes and those of Britain to strike the Iraqi
people."
However, both Iraq and the United Nations agreed to maintain
contact, though the time and venue of the next round of talks are still to
be fixed.
The two sides held two previous rounds of talks in March and May,
and Annan has pressed Iraq to accept the return of the arms inspectors.
The embargo on Iraq imposed for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait willnot
be lifted until the arms inspectors certify that Iraq is free of weapons
of mass destruction. Enditem
