BAGHDAD, Apr 3: UN arms experts have successfully com-aeted the first searches of Present Saddam Hussein's eight palaces, the head of the diplomatic group monitoring the visits said Friday, reports AP.

The mission was completed Thursday night after the second round of inspections of the Republican Palace in Baghdad, the seat of the Iraqi government. Ambassador Jayantha Dhana-pala told reporters.

"With that we have concluded the round of initial sites, all eight of them," he said.

The disarmament experts have been conducting a nationwide search since 1991 for information on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction but were only Slven access to the palaces un-er a Feb 23 accord that Iraq signed with Annan.

The mission "was professionally concluded. As far as the experts are concerned, they were able to fulfill their mandated task." said Dhanapala, the UN's top disarmament expert.

The diplomats will leave Baghdad on Saturday after finishing a report that Dhanapala will submit to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York, he said.

The "successful implementation (of the accord) in the first round of visits" has helped to improve relations between Iraq and the United Nations, the senior diplomat said.

Asked if the two sides have passed the first hurdle in testing the Feb 23 accord. Dhanapala said. "I would confirm that."

The Accord obliged the arms inspectors for the first time to

be monitored by a multinational group of 20 diplomats whenever they visited any of the eight presidential. complexes. in a gesture aimed at safeguarding Iraq's dignity. The accord also allows for subsequent visits to the sites.

Saddam had earlier refused to open the palaces, citing reasons of national sovereignty. The United States and Britain threatened military strikes to make Iraq comply, but fears of war abated after the United Nations and Iraq reached their accord.

The palace visits began March 26 with the Radwaniyah palace in Baghdad, continued in the north and south of the country and ended a week later in the capital with the Republican Palace and the Sijood Palace, which were inspected Wednesday and Thursday.