Tracking Number: 215070
Title: "Action Urged to Gain Iraqi Compliance with UN Terms." The UN Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi weapons has urged the Security Council to take firm
action before Iraq becomes even more intransigent in its continued refsal to comply with the terms of the cease-fire that ended the Persian Gulf War. (920219)
Translated Title: L`Irak doit se conformer aux resolutions de l`ONU.;
Urgen emprender accion para que irak cumpla condiciones ONU. (920219)
Author: AITA, JUDY (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19920219
Text:
ACTION URGED TO GAIN IRAQI COMPLIANCE WITH U.N. TERMS
(Iraq ignores Gulf War cease-fire requirements) (720)
By Judy Aita
USIA United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The U.N. Special Commission overseeing the destruction
of Iraqi weapons has urged the Security Council to take firm action before
Iraq becomes even more intransigent in its continued refusal to comply with
the terms of the cease-fire ending the Persian Gulf war.
Commenting on the commission's report, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering said February 18 its findings are "serious...maybe even appalling."
Council members suggested that a statement be issued supporting a trip to Baghdad by Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, executive chairman of the special commission, to "consult at the highest political levels to secure the Iraqi commitment" to comply with U.N. Security resolutions, said Pickering, current president of the council.
Ekeus met with the council in private February 18 to express the special commission's concern about Iraq's actions, delineate some of the more glaring instances of Iraq's non-compliance, and press the case for the council to take a firm stand now.
"The circumstances show that the longer firm action is delayed, in the face of Iraq's repeated refusal to acknowledge any obligations under Security Council Resolutions 707 (which provides for the role of the special commission) and 715 (which provides for monitoring of Iraq's programs of weapons of mass destruction), the more intransigent the government's position is likely to become," Ekeus said.
The most serious difficulty, Ekeus said, is Iraq's rejection of the ongoing monitoring and verification procedures.
"It's quite obvious if you manage to find the missiles and destroy them and Iraq then can, in an uncontrolled fashion, recover these weapons again, (it) is totally absurd. The importance of that resolution is significant," Ekeus told journalists after the council meeting.
After a high-level special commission delegation visited Baghdad at the end of January 1992, Ekeus said, the commission "regretfully concluded that, despite the commission's best endeavors, Iraq has no intention of meeting its obligations...."
Ekeus cited Iraq's failure to provide complete information on all aspects of its weapons development and destruction programs. Iraq's interpretation of its obligations under mandatory council resolutions on its weapons destruction program are "tantamount to a rejection by the government of Iraq of any obligations imposed on it by the Security Council," he said.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 707 sets out the work of the special commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and defines the cooperation and treatment they were to receive from Iraq. In that resolution the council demanded that Iraq provide the full, final, and complete disclosure of its weapons capabilities. Resolution 715 authorized the commission's plan for long-term monitoring and verification of Iraq's unconditional obligation not to use, develop, construct, or acquire any weapons of mass destruction.
"Iraq has so far failed to provide that disclosure, although some progress has been made through a procedure of interrogation where specific questions are addressed to Iraq to which it replies," Ekeus said. "This is not the procedure called for by the resolution, but it is the only way in which it has proved possible to make any progress." However, the ambassador said this procedure will not achieve the desired result as the commission's experience in Iraq has shown.
For example, Iraq has now admitted to the commission that it originally declared only part of the ancillary equipment for its ballistic missile force and said that undeclared equipment had been destroyed in the summer of 1991 without U.N. supervision. Iraq has even failed to provide the complete list of what it said was destroyed.
Iraq's actions have "considerably complicated the inspection process and distorted the picture of Iraq's program of relevant ballistic missiles," Ekeus told the council.
Iraq also told the United Nations that its chemical weapons production did not start until 1984 "when the U.N. itself concluded that Iraq had used chemical weapons against Iran in 1983," he pointed out. Neither documentary nor physical evidence supports Iraq's responses on chemical imports or production of chemical weapons and the stockpiles found by the United Nations.
Iraq's explanations as to why it destroyed its biological-weapons-related items rather than turn them over to the U.N. commission "have not been convincing," Ekeus said.
NNNN
File Identification: 02/19/92, PO-301; 02/19/92, AE-307; 02/19/92, AR-319; 02/19/92, EP-306; 02/19/92, EU-305; 02/19/92, NE-306; 02/19/92, NA-304; 02/21/92, AF-507; 02/21/92, AS-506
Product Name: Wireless
File
Product Code: WF
Languages: Arabic; French; Spanish
Keywords: UNITED NATIONS-SECURITY COUNCIL; IRAQ/Defense & Military; MILITARY CAPABILITIES; SANCTIONS; DISARMAMENT; PICKERING,
THOMAS; EKEUS, ROLF
Thematic Codes: 1NE; 1AC; 1UN
Target Areas: AF; AR; EA; EU; NE
PDQ Text Link: 215070; 215752; 215744
USIA Notes: *92021901.POL
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