The chief weapons inspectors will return to Baghdad on Feb. 8 for two days of talks with Iraqi officials in an attempt to resolve ongoing disputes about the search for banned weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi and U.N. officials said Saturday.
"They'll be discussing all the outstanding issues including interviews with Iraqi scientists," Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri told The Associated Press.

Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Engery Agency confirmed the trip saying that her boss Mohamed ElBaradei and Hans Blix, head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission are both going to Baghdad.

The trip will put Blix and ElBaradei back in the Iraqi capital four days before their next reports are due to the Security Council on Feb. 14. Their last, largely negative, reports on Jan. 27 set off a diplomatic campaign by the Bush administration to convince allies that military force may be necessary to disarm Iraq.

Iraq had issued the surprise invitation Thursday and in a joint reply to the Iraqis Friday Blix and ElBaradei proposed the dates for the visit.

But the inspectors said they would only be willing to make the trip once the Iraqis agreed to certain conditions and removed major obstacles that are preventing inspectors from conducting aspects of their work.

Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for the U.N. inspectors, said the U.N. teams were still waiting for Iraq's reply to the letter.

He said the inspectors were ready to meet with their Iraqi counterparts, but that the Iraqis needed to clarify "the purpose of the visit," and "how to achieve prompt progress in the resolution of open disarmament issues," he said.

Iraqi officials suggested that only Blix would be making the trip but Buchanan said Blix would travel with ElBaradei.

The Iraqis didn't specify what, if any, clarifications or concessions Baghdad was willing to make in order to facilitate the meeting. But Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, said it was unlikely the inspectors would get to meet with Saddam Hussein.

Al-Douri said the invitation "is not an effort to prevent war. We want to prove to the world that we do not have weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Blix and ElBaradei were in Baghdad in mid-January where they agreed with the Iraqis to a 10-point plan aimed at increasing cooperation with inspections, now in their third month.

But in reports to the Security Council on Jan. 27, Blix complained about Iraq's lack of substantive cooperation and suggested the Iraqis may still possess chemical and biological weapons.

ElBaradei's report in the nuclear area was more favorable. He told the council his teams had found no evidence that Iraq had revived its nuclear program.

Still, the two men have said repeatedly that Iraqi scientists must submit to private interviews with inspectors. So far, every Iraqi scientist with knowledge of Iraq's weapons programs has refused to speak with the inspectors unless and Iraqi government representative is in the room.

Blix said Friday he was encouraged that Iraq wants to talk about "transparency," and if he has a chance to meet Saddam he'll tell him the situation is "dangerous" and he must provide evidence quickly about Iraq's weapons programs.

ElBaradei said it was "very important that ... we meet at the highest level of the leadership, and hear from them a clear commitment."

PHOT0 CAPTIONS

Hans Blix, the United Nations (news - web sites) chief weapons inspector, walks through U.N. headquarters in New York, Friday, Jan. 31, 2003. Iraq offered Friday to discuss key unresolved issues--including private interviews with scientists and surveillance flights--with top U.N. weapons inspectors if they return to Iraq for new talks next month.(AP Photo/Richard