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Saturday, March 29, 2003
Blix to quit as head of UN weapons inspectors (12:55 pm)
UNITED NATIONS -- Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector caught in the center of the bitter Security Council struggle over Iraq, has decided to step down from the post when his contract runs out in June.
"He was not a volunteer and frankly speaking he hoped to be out of here one year ago," Blix's spokesman Ewen Buchanan said Friday after announcing the news.
"It was a particular phase in this exercise and if there is to be a new phase then somebody else should take it on."
Blix, a 74-year-old Swede, was named to the post in January 2000 and originally scheduled to serve just two years.
His reputation for standing up to pressure was sorely tested as the Iraq crisis unfolded and US officials became exasperated with his measured reports on Iraqi cooperation with his inspection teams.
The tension increased after Blix reported in February that his inspectors had been unable to confirm US allegations regarding Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction.
His later statement that Iraqi compliance with his demand to begin destroying its Al Samoud 2 missiles represented "real disarmament," lent further weight to those within the Security Council who argued against a military invasion.
Before taking up his post, the former Swedish foreign minister had already gleaned experience of Iraq during his 1981-1997 tenure as head of the UN's Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
Always one to weigh his words carefully before making any statement, Blix was known for his dry wit and an unflappable courteous demeanor that belied what diplomats described as a stubborn ability to stick to his guns.
In March last year, when the Iraqi authorities first agreed to talk to him but still insisted they would not allow the "return of the spy teams," Blix told reporters he had "progressed from being a nonentity to become a spy."
In October, he flew to Vienna for talks with Iraqi officials on practical arrangements for resuming inspections, which had been cut off four years previously. Asked what he would do if they rejected his proposals, he replied: "Since when in diplomacy do you accept no for an answer?"
During the seven weeks of negotiations which led to the unanimous adoption of Resolution 1441 on November 8, he was called in several times to brief the Council and successfully opposed points advocated by the United States.
On his advice, the draft text was amended to drop a US proposal that armed UN troops accompany his inspectors to Iraq and provocative language authorizing him to set up "no-fly zones" around suspected sites was watered down.
Born in Uppsala in June 1928, Blix studied law in Sweden and later at Columbia University, New York, and at Cambridge in England.
Appointed professor of international law at the University of Stockholm in 1960, he joined the foreign ministry as an advisor in 1963 and in 1978 became foreign minister.
Married with two sons, Blix speaks fluent English, French and German as well as his native tongue, and is something of an amateur adventurer.
When UN Secretary General Kofi Annan telephoned in February 2000 to ask him to head the new UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UnmovicC) he took the call on a mobile phone while hiking in Antarctica. afp
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