WASHINGTON, March 5: US Secretary of State Colin Powell accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Wednesday of deliberately trying to divide the UN Security Council and “split us into arguing factions”.

In a policy statement at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mr Powell declared that President Saddam’s effort must fail and urged the UN to back US moves to force Iraq to disarm.

Mr Powell, who will travel to the United Nations on Thursday, said President Saddam had thrown away his “one last chance” to avoid the “serious consequences” last November when he paid no heed to a United Nations appeal to disarm.

He said Iraq was hiding machinery to secretly make Al Samoud missiles and did not intend to hand over all of the missiles for disposal by the United Nations.

“From recent intelligence we know that the Iraqi regime intends to declare and destroy only a portion of its banned Al Samoud inventory,” he told the audience.

“Saddam, in fact, has ordered the continued production of the missiles that you see being destroyed... It has also begun to hide machinery it can use to convert other kinds of engines to power Al Samouds,” the secretary of state said.

He also said that Iraq was hiding banned weapons material from the UN inspectors.

“Nothing we have seen since the passage of 9resolution) 1441 indicates that Saddam Hussein has taken the strategic and political decision to disarm,” Powell said.

“The same challenge was given to him, the same instruction was given by the international community ... to Saddam Hussein — ‘disarm, give up these weapons of mass destruction, stop threatening your people’ — for 12 years Saddam Hussein has given the same answer back repeatedly, ‘No, I will not’.”

Agencies add: Reacting to the growing opposition to an invasion, Mr Powell said divisions over Iraq only encouraged President Saddam Hussein to deceive the international community.

He acknowledged there were divisions at the United Nations and that the Iraqi president was counting on members voting against the use of force to disarm him. But he said it was time to come together.

“If these divisions continue it will only convince Saddam Hussein that he is right, but I can assure you he is wrong,” Powell said.

“It is now for the international community to confront the reality of Iraq’s continuing failure to disarm.”

Powell charged that Iraq’s intelligence agencies were trying to deter scientists alleged to have links with its weapons of mass destruction programs from attending interviews with UN inspectors.

Mr Powell said Iraqi intelligence agencies were “working agressively to discourge or control interviews”.