UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Rolf Ekeus to return to his former position as UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq. Russia, China and France have formally registered their objections, a step that points to both a filibuster on this appointment and further erosion of international support for sanctions. If Ekeus is ultimately rejected by the Security Council, Annan has also lined up the Finnish Ambassador to Israel and Cyprus, Pasi Patokallio. Brazil's former UN ambassador, Celso Amorim, was also on Annan's short list, but is reported to have withdrawn his name. Shaykh Muhammad bin Rashid Al-Maktum, defense minister and crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, told AFP on 18 January that he is convinced that sanctions only help Saddam Husseyn remain in power.
Nobody can predict what lies at the end of the tunnel.
Pretoria appears to have released the funds in order to gain a toehold in the potentially lucrative Iraq market by doing business in areas permitted by the UN, mostly medical and development projects. At present there is almost no bilateral trade between the two countries and diplomatic relations have existed only since 1998. To that end, he said, Iraq will host a joint ministerial commission in the near future to help open Iraq's market for Pakistani goods. In early December, there were several attacks against Iraqi governmental institutions and officials, the Iraq Communist Party web site reported on 14 January. In one, a security officer was killed.