After the second confrontation in a week, Iraqi soldiers allowed U.N. weapons monitors to inspect a training base used by Saddam Hussein's elite guard.
The standoff on Monday began when the Iraqis blocked U.N. monitors from inspecting a compound used by Iraq's Republican Guard. After a flurry of diplomatic meetings, 13 inspectors were permitted into the compound, said James Moore, director of operations for the U.N. monitors.The inspectors are authorized to monitor the dismantling of Iraqi programs for chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles.
Moore would not say why the monitors wanted to inspect the compound in Sarabadi, about 35 miles southeast of Baghdad. The area is a few miles south of Salman Pak, which was Iraq's main biological weapons center.
U.N. inspectors surrounded the site and used helicopters to monitor the area during the standoff, Moore said.
Iraqi Ambassador Nizar Ham-doon claimed the United Nations and Iraq had reached a "gentlemen's agreement" in the past that precluded spot inspections of locations "sensitive to the state."
U.N. officials, however, insist they have the right to inspect any location in the country.
Last Friday, Iraqi officials allowed U.N. inspectors to enter a Ministry of Irrigation building in Baghdad only after an 18-hour impasse.
Charles Duelfer, deputy chairman of the U.N. commission, did not say whether incriminating documents were found at the Irrigation Ministry.
"This is certainly a worrying picture," British Ambassador John Weston said. "If there is several hours' delay, that means that things could be hidden which could be incriminating."
The second standoff took place as officials met in New York to discuss a U.N. proposal to allow Iraq to sell $1 billion worth of oil every 90 days to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian goods.
The United Nations imposed sweeping economic sanctions against Iraq after Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The Security Council has refused to consider any lifting of the sanctions until it is satisfied that Iraq has fully cooperated with the weapons monitors.