leaders all over the world of keeping quiet when one country wants to bully the whole world.”Shimon Peres, Israel’s Foreign Minister, was strongly supportive of America for maintaining its policy of regime change “Inspectors and supervision only work with honest people. “What right has he [Bush] to come in to say that offer is not genuine? We must condemn that very strongly,” a visibly angry Mr Mandela told reporters outside his home “That is why I criticise most … Syria is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council which will be called to vote on any UN resolution authorising military strikes against Iraq.State-run Damascus radio said in a commentary that despite the Iraqi decision, it found “the hawks in the US administration, who are connected to Zionist plots, are still promoting for an aggression against Iraq”.Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Marwan Muasher, in an apparent reference to US and British scepticism about President Saddam’s intentions, said the Iraqi leader’s letter was “clear” and should be taken “at face value”.Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Ahmed Maher, said: “This is the beginning of a process of easing the tensions.”Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, lambasted the US attitude. Arab states rejoiced yesterday over Iraq’s “positive” step that may spare their region from a devastating war. Mr Baradei is an Egyptian diplomat who worked his way up the IAEA ladder from 1984.. The IAEA concentrates on controlling nuclear aspects of the Iraqi programme through its 15-person “Iraq action team”, led by a Frenchman, Jacques Baute.

Mohamed El-BaradeiMr Baradei’s Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) works with UNMovic to carry out the UN Security Council’s resolutions on dismantling Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The inspectorate is now known as the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMovic) and will have 300 inspectors to draw from. In fact, if they don’t meet Blix off the plane and say, ‘This is the full story’, then we have a problem.” Who leads the UN team?Hans BlixMr Blix is a Swedish diplomat who was director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for 16 years before he took over as head of the UN weapons inspectors attempting to account for Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles. One said: “If Iraq’s letting them in, by the time they get there, there won’t be anything there.” Another went further: “If we don’t have access or Iraq doesn’t co-operate, then we have a problem. But the first to go into Iraq will be experts from the core staff in New York.Former inspectors expressed scepticism about what the inspections would achieve. Their task is less complicated than that of the others, because of the difficulties in concealing nuclear-related activities.More than 200 experts provided by 44 countries have gone through the UN training. Ewen Buchanan, the spokesman for the chief UN inspector, Hans Blix, said yesterday that the arrangements would include such issues as where the inspectors would stay, where they would park their helicopters, whether they would be able to use their own communications equipment and whether Iraq would provide escorts for the teams.The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, who work with the New York-based experts, are also ready to depart at a moment’s notice when authorised by the Security Council.

“Sovereignty as interpreted by Iraq may not be as interpreted by the rest of the world,” said one.Before the inspectors set foot in Iraq, practical arrangements will have to be negotiated with the Iraqis. During the inspectors’ seven years of disarmament work in Iraq, many stand-offs occurred when sites were declared “sensitive” just as the UN vehicles rolled up at the gates.The weapons experts pointed to the Iraqi leader’s insistence in his letter on the need to “respect the sovereignty” of Iraq as an bad sign. Other so-called “sensitive sites” such as palaces have been declared off-limits to the inspectors.Whether President Saddam’s offer of inspections “without conditions” will apply to the full range of sites this time round remains to be seen. The inspectors say Iraqi claims about missing documents cannot be believed: “After all, they were well trained by the British,” commented one.In the past, some of the most dangerous stand-offs between the unarmed inspectors and Iraqi soldiers came at government ministries suspected of holding vital information about banned weaponry, and as the inspectors followed the weapons trail to the security organisations of Saddam Hussein. The dairy industry may also be inspected, “or anything which has a large tin in which you can ferment something” as one expert joked yesterday.The other main part of the inspectors’ mission will be to obtain relevant documents and interview those involved in Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programmes to build up a complete picture of the Iraqi capability.The aim is to establish with documentary proof whether Iraq can be trusted when it says all biological and chemical weapons and long-range missiles have been destroyed.