|
Iraq Appeals for U.N. Intervention Over Air Raids
BAGHDAD, June 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq called on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan Tuesday to put an end to U.S.-British raids on the north and south of the country, and urged him to oppose a British-U.S. proposal for so-called "smart" sanctions, which would only reinforce the decade-long embargo imposed on the country.
Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz called on Annan to "oppose the efforts by the United States and Britain to use the humanitarian program as a cover for their policy aimed at reinforcing the embargo imposed on Iraq" for invading Kuwait in 1990, news agencies reported.
"It's an aggressive policy by the United States and Britain against Iraq that has become a staple since 1991," Aziz said in a message to Annan.
"The Iraqi government completely rejects the so-called no-fly zones imposed unilaterally by the United States and Britain," he added.
Aziz also slammed Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for allowing U.S.-British warplanes to use their facilities and airspace, calling on the three countries to "stop immediately their participation in these illegal actions that violate Iraq's sovereignty."
Later in the day, Iraq said its anti-aircraft defenses had hit a British or US warplane during bombing raids on civilian targets in the north of the country, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said.
Surface-to-air missile "batteries and anti-aircraft defenses repulsed enemy aircraft, forcing them to flee toward their bases in Turkey ... and indications are that one of the aircraft was hit," a military spokesman quoted by INA said.
"The enemy raids targeted the provinces of Dohuk, Erbil and Niniveh," the spokesman said.
INA did not identify what the targets were or say whether any of them had been hit.
In a second message, Aziz reiterated calls for the U.N. Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM), which surveys the 200-kilometer (120-mile) demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait, to register all violations of Iraqi airspace, reported news agencies.
"With the technological and technical means it has at its disposal to carry out its mission, UNIKOM is in a position to identify the military planes that violate its airspace," he said.
Annan said in April that the United Nations had neither the means nor sufficient information to definitively identify the planes that have violated the demilitarized zone, news agencies added.
The almost daily flights by American and British planes over the (US-Britain imposed) no-fly zones are supposedly aimed at enforcing the military restrictions imposed on President Saddam Hussein's regime after the 1991 Gulf War.
Baghdad does not recognize the zones, and claims that 327 people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured in raids by the Americans and British since 1998.
Meanwhile, two former United Nations aid coordinators for Iraq say a revision of international sanctions against Baghdad, now under consideration by the U.N. Security Council, would only mean more hardship for the Iraqi people, a Baghdad daily reported Tuesday.
Germany's Hans von Sponeck and Ireland's Denis Halliday say that only when economic sanctions are completely lifted will Iraqis once again have a chance to live normal lives.
The two men resigned as heads of the U.N. humanitarian Oil-for-Food program to protest the sanctions they feel are destroying the lives of Iraqi citizens.
Britain, with U.S. backing, has circulated a Security Council draft resolution that would abolish curbs on civilian trade with Iraq but tighten a weapons ban and controls on smuggling outside a U.N. oil-for-food deal.
Von Sponeck and Halliday say they have carefully studied the British-U.S. proposal, which intends to decrease the effects of an embargo on civilians while tightening a weapons ban on the government. The two men insist the so-called "smart sanctions" would instead be a provocation that would increase the punishment of ordinary citizens.
On another move, Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb said Tuesday that his country rejects the proposal of the new sanctions on Iraq and notified the United Nations of its position, the Petra news agency reported.
"There are political and economic conditions specific to Jordan in addition to several regional, international and Arab conditions that limit the government's field of maneuver," Abu Ragheb said.
He made the remarks during talks with Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Hikmat Ibrahim, who visited Jordan to deliver a message from Saddam Hussein to King Abdullah II.
"The proposed smart sanctions target Iraq's sovereignty, its wealth and its dignity and therefore they are rejected part and parcel because they constitute a new form of imperialism," Ibrahim said.
Iraq has warned its neighbors of a cut in trade and oil links, if they cooperate with the "smart sanctions."
Jordan, Egypt and Syria informed Annan, during his visit last week, of their opposition to the revision of the sanctions regime imposed on Iraq, according to a senior U.N. official.
"Every Arab is opposed to the sanctions imposed on Iraq. We want Iraqi children to sleep without suffering, and the Kuwaitis to sleep without nightmares," the Jordanian minister said.
|
