Baghdad - Iraq's parliamentary speaker told a visiting Irish-British parliamentary delegation yesterday that UN weapons inspectors had schemed to perpetuate sanctions by refusing to verify that Iraq has dismantled its weapons programme.
"The schemes of the [weapons] experts are incompatible with the mission entrusted to them," Mr Saddun Hamadi said. "They're seeking to perpetuate the embargo, which has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."
The delegation - former Taoiseach Mr Albert Reynolds (left), Senator Michael Lanigan and British Labour MP Mr Tam Dalyell - pledged to "inform the people of Britain and Ireland about the sufferings of the Iraqi people caused by the ongoing embargo," the INA news agency said.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tariq Aziz, also met the delegation and told it Baghdad has no intention of resuming co-operation with UN weapons inspectors until the embargo is lifted, the agency said.