Annan said UN inspectors should go back

Asked about the dispute over the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the Security Council resolution on the books states that the inspectors are to go back, although he added the Council is free to amend that resolution.

"I think it is the Council resolution does require certification from the inspectors," he said. "Of course, the situation in Iraq has changed. The current resolution will demand that the inspectors go back. The Council is free to amend it and it may well do that. But until they do that, this is a resolution on the books and it is that resolution that is guiding Mr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei here in Vienna. And until that changes, that is the resolution that they should follow."