Iraq 'to break arms silence'

MANAMA (Reuter) - Iraq has agreed to discuss the key question of the suppliers of its big arms programmes, a UN weapons inspector said yesterday. Baghdad's refusal until now to say who supplied what for its programmes has been a serious obstacle to the lifting of UN sanctions, including the ban on unlimited exports of Iraqi oil. It had already expressed a willingness last month to talk about the suppliers for its nuclear programme but Nikita Smidovitch said the Iraqis told him this would now apply to chemical, biological and ballistic weapons.