February 8, 2003	Saturday	Zul Hijjah 6,1423

LARNACA (Cyprus), Feb 7: Chief UN weapons inspectors on Friday demanded drastically improved cooperation from Iraq in the search for any weapons of mass destruction and called for a meeting with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

On the eve of a Baghdad visit, Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, and chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, said private interviews with Iraqi scientists and surveillance flights were high on the agenda for their weekend trip.

ElBaradei said urgent “closure” was also needed on the issues of chemical and biological missiles.

“Time is critical and we need to show quick progress and we need to show drastic change on the part of Iraq in cooperation on these areas,” he told reporters on arrival in Larnaca, the main logistics base for the inspectors outside Iraq.

In Vienna, Blix said he wanted to see “a lot more” during the pair’s weekend visit to Iraq.

ElBaradei said he believed a meeting with President Saddam Hussein could greatly help in getting better cooperation.

“We would be willing to meet with him obviously if he’s ready to meet with us,” ElBaradei said.

“That would be useful to have a discussion with him and explain to him our needs to make progress.”

ElBaradei and Blix leave Baghdad on Monday to prepare their crucial next report to the security council on Feb 14.

Blix will travel to New York and ElBaradei to his International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna.

The United States has said the weekend visit is crucial in deciding if Iraq is cooperating with weapons inspections and could set the scene for any possible swift military action.—Reuters