With 5-Paragraph Letter, U.N. Formally Ends War : Diplomacy: The action clears the way for U.S. troop withdrawals in southern Iraq and a peacekeeping force.

UNITED NATIONS —  With a legalistic five-paragraph letter, the U.N. Security Council on Thursday formally ended the Persian Gulf War.

The letter stressed that Saddam Hussein’s government has provided “acceptance, irrevocable and without qualifying conditions,” of the council’s cease-fire resolution of April 3, setting forth some of history’s strictest conditions for the end of warfare.

The council’s action cleared the way for massive withdrawals of U.S. troops from southern Iraq and for U.N. peacekeepers to patrol a demilitarized zone reaching six miles into Iraq and three miles into Kuwait. About 32 nations are contributing manpower to the force, which will be headed by Austrian Maj. Gen. Gunther Greindl. The first contingent of troops is expected to arrive in Kuwait city today.

Precisely at 6 p.m., after the council’s 15 members had approved language of the letter, Iraq’s U.N. Ambassador Abdul Amir Anbari met with Paul Noterdaeme, Belgium’s ambassador and president of the Security Council this month. In a brief ceremony, Noterdaeme handed Anbari the letter.

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Hussein had agreed to the cease-fire over the weekend, and Anbari said he thought the formal letter was unnecessary. But several Security Council members, including the United States, took the position that the council should issue a formal reply.

“We felt it was better to dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s,” said a U.S. diplomat.

The council’s letter was both a historic document and a footnote to a fait accompli. An informal cease-fire between allied and Iraqi troops has been in place since March 3.

Under the terms of the resolution, Iraq agrees to scrap all its weapons of mass destruction and its missiles with a range of over 90 miles. Iraq is barred from acquiring or manufacturing nuclear weapons and must set aside a share of its oil revenues for compensation for damages suffered by the war’s victims. Procedures were established to review international trade sanctions against Iraq every 60 days as Iraq’s compliance with the council’s conditions is monitored.

In southern Iraq during the hours before the cease-fire took effect, Iraqis claiming to be soldiers rushed to surrender to U.S. troops, hoping to escape reprisals from Hussein’s military after the U.S. pullout, the Associated Press reported from the town of Safwan.

Those trying to turn themselves in begged to be taken to the safety of POW camps in Saudi Arabia.

One refugee leader said his people were so desperate they would sit in front of American tanks to prevent them from leaving.

Maj. Tom Grubbs, in charge of the camp where 11,000 Iraqis receive food, water and medical care, said the refugees were not reassured by news that the departing U.S. troops will be replaced along the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border by a U.N. peacekeeping force.

IMPOSING THE GULF CEASE-FIRE

The U.N.-imposed cease-fire taking effect in the Persian Gulf requires:

* Iraq to destroy chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile systems.

* A trade embargo on non-food items until compliance is assured.

* An indefinite arms embargo on Iraq.

* Iraqi payments to Kuwait for damages, including environmental damage.

* A U.N. military force to monitor a demilitarized zone on the Iraq-Kuwait border.

* Recognition of 1963 border lines between Iraq and Kuwait.

The cease-fire calls for a 120-day timetable. Some significant dates:

* By April 18, Iraq must list locations, amounts and types of all chemical and biological weapons, all “nuclear weapons-usable” materials and Scuds.

* By May 3, the U.N. will create a plan to regulate Iraqi reparations payments to Kuwait from a levy on Iraqi oil revenues.

* By May 18, the U.N. will propose a commission to plan for inspecting and destroying Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

* By June 2, the U.N. will consider guidelines to enforce the arms embargo against Iraq and will review the remaining embargo against civilian goods.

* By Aug. 1, the Security Council will review the ban on arms sales to Iraq.