ACCESSION
ACCESSION NUMBER:235758 FILE ID:TX-101 DATE:07/20/92 TITLE:IRAQ CONTINUES VIOLATIONS (07/20/92) TEXT:*92072001.TXT IRAQ CONTINUES VIOLATIONS (VOA Editorial) (430) (Following is an editorial, broadcast by the Voice of America July 20, reflecting the views of the U.S. government.) Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein continues to violate the agreements that ended last year's Persian Gulf war. The Iraqi regime is repressing civilians in Iraq's southern region in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 688, which prohibits repression of the Iraqi population anywhere in Iraq. The Iraqi regime has stepped up its harassment of U.N. personnel in Iraq. It has refused to implement U.N. resolutions 706 and 712, which would ensure that the proceeds of limited Iraqi oil sales would be used for legitimate purposes, including the purchase of food and medicine for the Iraqi people. And Iraq is currently preventing a U.N. inspection team from fulfilling its mandate to search for and destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and to eliminate Iraq's ability to produce such weapons in the future. This is not the first time Iraq has attempted to obstruct the work of the United Nations. After the first incidents in April 1991, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 707, which requires Iraq to fulfill without delay all obligations it incurred under the cease-fire agreement. Resolution 707 says that U.N. inspection teams must have "immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access to any and all areas, facilities, equipment, records and means of transportation which they wish to inspect." Last September, another U.N. inspection team was caught in a standoff in Baghdad after seizing secret papers related to Iraq's nuclear industry. Since July 5, Iraq has refused to let members of the U.N. Special Commission inspection teams enter the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation building in Baghdad. The building is believed to contain information related to Iraqi missile systems and the foreign suppliers of Iraq's missile program. On July 6, the president of the U.N. Security Council said that Iraq's denial of access is "a material and unacceptable breach of the provisions of U.N. Resolution 687, which established the cease-fire and provided the conditions essential to the restoration of peace and security in the region." The United States has emphasized that Iraqi authorities must allow the U.N. inspections to proceed without delay. The United States holds Iraq responsible for the safety of all U.N. inspectors. By continuing its violations, the Iraqi government is putting at risk the cease-fire that ended Operation Desert Storm. NNNN 1 .
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