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Kofi Annan Names Dhanapala to Lead Special Team to Accompany Weapons Inspectors into Iraq’s Disputed Presidential Palaces

HeadlineFeb 26, 1998

While the U.N. Security Council discussed a resolution to enforce an accord opening Iraqi sites to U.N. inspectors, U.N. chief Kofi Annan moved quickly to fulfill a key element of the agreement. Annan named the chief U.N. disarmament officer, Jayantha Dhanapala, to lead the special team of chaperones to accompany U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq’s disputed presidential palaces. Creation of the team was a critical part of the accord reached last weekend between Annan and Iraqi leaders, a deal that averted a U.S.-led military strike on Iraq. The United States and Britain, meanwhile, are pushing for a resolution to back the deal with specific penalties if Iraq violates the agreement. Any explicit threat of force, however, is unlikely to be supported by the other three permanent Security Council members — Russia, France and China — which all resisted U.S. and British threats of a military strike before the agreement was brokered. Councilmembers met informally for over an hour and a half Wednesday but produced no draft resolution. Consultations will resume today.

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