UNITED NATIONS weapons inspectors staged their first search of one of Saddam Hussein’s eight presidential compounds yesterday — and found nothing but gilt-edged opulence, manicured lawns and poetry.

Springing a surprise visit to Baghdad’s vast al-Sajoud compound, the inspectors demanded — and received — admission after a mere ten minutes of protest by the nonplussed guards.

Inside they found an eerily silent palace. Apart from borders of pale yellow roses and gardeners tending the palm tree-lined driveways, it appeared to be empty. They found ducks swimming lazily in several artificial lakes, soaring arched windows and an enormous sky-blue dome.

The three-storey octagonal entrance hall, fashioned from white marble and lined with sumptuous carpets, echoed only with the sound of gasps from the 100 journalists allowed in after the inspection team had left.

Each wall is inscribed in gold with a poem singing Saddam’s praises. Intricately carved wooden doors near the entrance carry a gold inset bearing the initials “SH”. But the ease with which unannounced visitors were accommodated offered almost certain proof that the man himself, famed for constantly moving between his palaces, was not at home.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, Iraqi officials promised to publish on Saturday, a day early, the declaration of its weapons programmes demanded by the United Nations. But they continued to insist that Iraq possessed no banned weapons.

“Of course the declaration will have new elements, but these new elements will not, shall we say, necessarily include a declaration of the presence of weapons of mass destruction,” Hussam Mohammed Amin, head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate, said.

The raid by UN inspectors on the al-Sajoud palace, with a similar exercise at a smaller scale palace, Karadah, in central Baghdad, appeared to be more of a political exercise than a genuine trawl for biological, chemical and nuclear secrets.

Successful entry established an important precedent, laying the ghost that had dogged the previous UN inspection regime in the 1990s. Its members were banned from the presidential compounds unless they gave prior notice of their visit and were accompanied by a diplomatic escort.

The inspectors spent nearly two hours in the compound and “were able to inspect every room, every corner,” a UN spokesman said. The sprawling site, which contains Saddam’s executive offices and covers dozens of acres along a bend in the Tigris River, was damaged by a US cruise missile in the Gulf Warand has since been painstakingly reconstructed.

In New York, Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, hinted at tensions with the United States over the course of the inspections. A day after President Bush had said that the early signs from Baghdad were “not encouraging”, Mr Annan said that there was a “good indication” that the Iraqis were co-operating, although he added that it was early days.

The White House tried to play down the prospect of immediate action after this weekend’s Iraqi declaration. Ari Fleischer, Mr Bush’s spokesman, said the United States would take “appropriate time” to review the dossier.

Washington is trying to keep the Iraqi authorities guessing, refusing to say if it will publish intelligence material pointing to banned weapons programmes to undercut Iraq denials.

Mr Bush underlined his determination to replace Saddam, appointing yesterday a special envoy and ambassador for “free Iraqis”.

Zalmay Kahlilzad, who is also the President’s envoy to Afghanistan, will liaise between the White House and Iraqi opposition groups to prepare for a post-Saddam Iraq.

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