UNITED NATIONS, Jan 27: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged a divided UN Security Council on Monday to give the weapons inspectors “a reasonable amount of time” to do their work in Iraq.

Annan spoke shortly before the inspectors delivered their crucial report to the council.

“If they need time, they should be given the time to do their work,” Annan told reporters as he arrived at UN headquarters.

He said the arms experts should be given a “reasonable amount of time”, adding “I am not saying forever but they do need time to do their work.

He told Iraq that the inspectors needed “more proactive engagement” in complying with their demands. “I hope the Iraqis will do what the inspectors asked them to do.”

To underline the Bush administration’s aims, Secretary of State Colin Powell, on the eve of the report, said the United States would go to war against Iraq alone if European allies would not join the fight, regardless of inspections.

“To those who say, why not give the inspection process more time, I ask, how much more time does Iraq need to answer these questions?” Powell told an audience at the annual World Economic Forum at Davos in the Swiss Alps.

The UN Security Council debates the crisis on Wednesday, amid strong signs the United States has delayed a formal decision to go to war for several weeks. Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the council for February, would like another report from inspectors on Feb 14.—AFP