In a report to the Security Council, the U.N. Special Commission also said diplomats who accompanied inspectors sided with Iraq in some instances when minor disputes arose during visits to President Saddam Hussein's eight palaces last month.
The report, sent to the council yesterday, reviewed the first round of inspections of the eight palaces permitted under the U.N.-Iraq agreement, signed in February, which averted a U.S.-led military strike against Iraq.
Although inspections were carried out to its satisfaction, the commission, also known as UNSCOM, said, problems are "likely to re-emerge," especially when teams try to visit sites with little or no warning to the
Iraqis.
"It is essential to note ... the fundamental issue of continuing access is by no means solved and has only been postponed," the report said.
The report cited remarks attributed to Iraqi Lt. Gen. Amir Rasheed, who reportedly said that Iraq "had agreed to a process of visits of finite duration."
Four other long-term prisoners were also released, but it was the case of Ahmed Qatamesh - the longest-held and most prominent of Israel's untried detainees - that had become a cause celebrated in recent months.
Qatamesh was arrested Sept. 1, 1992. Israel never produced evidence that he had been involved in terrorism.
04-16-98
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