Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, has signed an agreement with the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The new deal promises to allow UN weapons inspectors to return to their work more or less unhindered.

Mr Annan says the deal is the result of a "good discussion" with Saddam Hussein which he described as both frank and constructive.

But given his past record, is the international community right to take Saddam Hussein at his word? Can he be trusted to keep any agreement, or is this simply the prelude to yet another round of confrontation in the Gulf?

We have, as they say, been here before. If the weekend deal is ratified and the US and her allies withdraw their military force, will Saddam engineer another crisis in a short time?

Or does Saddam Hussein have a point?

Is he entitled to insist that Iraq's sovereignty is violated by the UN's insistence that everything in the country should be open to inspection?

Can Saddam Hussein be trusted?

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