United Nations - The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tareq Aziz, yesterday accused a senior UN weapons inspector of meeting in London with the leader of an Iraqi opposition group. The accusation was denied by the official. In a letter to the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, Mr Aziz accused the deputy chairman of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM), Mr Charles Duelfer, of meeting in London last week "with the president of one of the Iraqi opposition groups."
Mr Duelfer, a US national, "discussed with him information related to the special commission tasks," Mr Aziz said. Mr Duelfer said it was coincidental he was in London on the same day several Iraqi opposition groups met a top-ranking US State Department official.
Meanwhile Mr Annan's special representative in Baghdad, Mr Prakash Shah, left the city for talks with Mr Annan, saying a dispute over a document which Iraq refuses to give to arms inspectors was "still a subject of discussion".