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Iraq pledges

to give full

transparency

on weapons

BAGHDAD: Iraqi leaders including President Saddam Hussein have pledged to give the United Nations all the information it needs on weapons prohibited under the 1991 Gulf War ceasefire, Baghdad newspapers said on Tuesday.

In a meeting chaired by Saddam on Monday night, the Iraqi leadership decided to "continue cooperation with the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) with full transparency to fill in any objective gap in (weapons) files".

The pledge followed a visit to Baghdad by UN envoy Rolf Ekeus who spoke of a new approach by Baghdad in an effort to get crippling trade sanctions, including a ban on exports of Iraq's huge oil reserves, lifted.

Fresh Iraqi pledges to supply previously withheld information on its weapons of mass destruction followed the defection to Jordan of Saddam's son-in-law, Hussein Kamel Hassan, who had masterminded Iraq's military programmes.

Ekeus is now in Jordan for a meeting with the fugitive Iraqi, who fled on August 8 along with his brother and their wives, who are both daughters of Saddam.-Reuter