DUBAI, MARch 28: The United Nations weapons inspectors, accompanied by UN diplomats, have successfully completed inspection of one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces in Baghdad, reports received here said today.The inspections achieved what they set out to do, said Jayantha Dhanapala, the leader of the diplomatic team that accompanied the UN special Commission (UNSCOM) inspectors yesterday.
Twenty senior diplomats are in Baghdad to ensure that the weapons inspectors carry out their job without infringing the sensitivity and sovereignty of Iraq.
The UN inspectors spent around 11 hours in the Radwaniyah palace west of Baghdad. ``We had a hard long day,'' Dhanapala said without elaborating on the nature of the visits, according to the reports.
The visits that began on Thursday were the first to the presidential sites since the inspectors began their job seven years ago to ensure Iraq had no mass destruction weapons.
``The teams saw everything they wanted to see. I am personally impressed by thespirit of cooperation by the Iraqi side,'' said Horst Holthoff, German member of the diplomatic team.
Prakash Shah, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy, was in Beghdad setting up office to establish a direct line of communication between Iraq and the UN chief.
The initial visits to the presidential sites are expected to be completed around April 5. The UN team will inspect and survey the eight presidential sites in detail which were earlier held off limits for them by the Iraqi leadership.
``The purpose for which UNSCOM wanted to go in, as far as the initial visit was concerned, was achieved,'' Dhanapala told reporters.
``They were able to gather the baseline data that they needed and they were able to fulfil their functions. We have completed visiting the Radwaniyah presidential site.''
The visits to the presidential sites were made possible by a pathbreaking deal worked out by Annan with President Saddam Hussein recently.
UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler, who Iraq has accused ofsiding with the US administration, meanwhile, returned to New York from a trip to Baghdad praising ``a new spirit of cooperation''.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
