BAGHDAD, January 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Pledging Monday, January 20, to boost its cooperation with U.N. disarmament inspectors, Iraq signed an accord with them before they deliver a key report to the Security Council next week, while accusing the inspectors of illegal provocations instigated by Washington.

However, the announcement of the deal by U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Committee (UNMOVIC) chief Hans Blix was tempered as he said they were yet to discuss several “substantive issues” related to anthrax, Scud missiles and the lethal VX nerve gas.

Blix said after meeting with Iraqi foreign ministry officials the 10-point accord covers access to all sites, including private homes, encourages Iraqi scientists to accept private interviews and appoints a team to search for warheads.

“We have gone a long way on that but there have been hitches on it and some of these hitches were solved today,” Blix told reporters.

Talks since Sunday, January 19, between Iraqi officials and Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), focused on “stocktaking of inspections” and issues raised by them, said Iraqi presidential advisor Amer Al-Saadi, who is in charge of Iraq’s disarmament dossier.

“Access has been obtained to all sites. This will continue. The Iraqi side will encourage persons to accept access also to private sites,” Saadi said after a 24-hour mission by the chief U.N. inspectors.

A list of scientists already submitted would be “supplemented in accordance with advice from the inspectors,” under the accord.

However Blix warned that major issues remained outstanding with Iraq. “There are outstanding issues which we were not able to solve, substantive issues related to anthrax, VX (nerve gas), Scud missiles. We did not discuss that yet.”

Provocative Behavior By Inspectors

Baghdad, meanwhile, accused the inspectors of working for the United States, not the United Nations.

“The inspectors began their work in an acceptable manner but were not long in stepping outside their mission and collecting information for intelligence work,” the ruling Baath Party newspaper charged.

“They began to make lists of scientists and ask them questions with hidden aims, to take an interest in army camps and non-prohibited military production,” Ath-Thawra reported.

The inspectors were “collecting information about the scientific and technical capacity of Iraq for reasons which are not linked to the search for weapons of mass destruction.”

The daily said the inspectors’ conduct had become “more vulgar with time, including site visits during days off and searches of suitcases and diaries of certain people in a humiliating way and an invasion of their privacy.”

It described questioning of scientists “like police interrogations trying to trap them and report things they did not say.”

Ath-Thawra said such behavior was the result of “direct and insolent interference” by the United States in the inspection process.

The Bush administration had “pushed the inspectors to commit these violations to provoke Iraq and bring tension to its relations with the Security Council.

“What the inspectors have done in recent days angers every Iraqi because it is illegal, immoral and provocative,” the daily said.

Inspectors’ Report “New Beginning”: China

Security Council permanent member China said Monday the January 27 report by U.N. weapons inspectors on Iraqi disarmament should be seen as a “new beginning” and not the end of the inspection process.

“Since the United Nations resumed the inspections in Iraq, the work in this regard is proceeding well and should be affirmed,” Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told reporters ahead of a special meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

“I believe this report is not a full stop of the inspection work but rather a new beginning,” he said. “I think we should respect their opinions and support their work.”

War on Iraq Could Divide World: Primakov  

In another development, former Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov warned Monday that a U.S. war against Iraq could divide the international community on the basis of religion and lead to internal rifts in many states.

“A (U.S.) war on Iraq will lead the world towards more divisions. It risks dividing the world on the basis of religion and civilizations,” Primakov told the Jeddah Economic Forum in this Red Sea city of western Saudi Arabia.

“This is one of the most serious problems facing the world ... It could divide the world into Muslims and non-Muslims and lead to dividing countries like Russia where 20 million Muslims live,” he said in a keynote speech.

“Many countries could break up from within. This is very serious ... Both Europe and the United states have large Muslim communities,” said Primakov, who is president of Russia’s chambers of commerce and industry.

Primakov said the world community must work to preserve and protect all civilizations and religions in an environment of peaceful coexistence.

He also warned Washington it would not secure the same support it had obtained in its campaign in Afghanistan.

“Such support will diminish if the United States attacked Iraq. This will also weaken the (U.S.-led) war on terrorism,” which began after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, he said.