Tracking Number: 219129
Title: "UN Security Council Refuses to Negotiate with Iraq." The UN Security Council told a high-level Iraqi delegation that its government has not fully cooperated with the UN
on the Gulf War cease-fire requirements and refused to renegotiate any of the conditions. (920311)
Translated Title: Consejo Seguridad Naciones Unidas se niega a negociarcon Irak. (920311)
Author: AITA,
JUDY (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19920311
Text:
U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL REFUSES TO NEGOTIATE WITH IRAQ
(Says resolutions must be carried out) (1660) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The U.N. Security Council March 11 told a high-level Iraqi delegation that its government has not fully cooperated with the United Nations on the gulf war cease-fire requirements and refused to renegotiate any of the conditions.
Reading a lengthy list of problems with Iraq's performance, Venezuelan Ambassador Diego Arria, council president, said that "despite Iraq's statements of unconditional acceptance of Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), the Security Council has determined that Iraq is not in full compliance with all of its obligations."
A 14-member Iraqi delegation lead by Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz is meeting with the council in open session in hopes of convincing the 15-nation body that it is abiding by the cease-fire demands and the economic sanctions imposed upon it since the invasion of Kuwait should be lifted accordingly.
However, before even hearing Tariq Aziz, the council issued an 11-page assessment of Iraq's poor performance stressing the lack of cooperation, delaying tactics, and sometimes outright lying the Iraqi government has committed in trying to evade many provisions of the cease-fire (Resolution 687). One-by-one, the ambassadors told the Iraqi delegation in no uncertain terms that the meeting was not a negotiating session.
The intention of the council in holding the session, they said, was to send a clear message of what the council expects from Baghdad and to show its resolve in seeing that Resolution 687 and subsequent resolutions elaborating the cease-fire demands are carried out.
The distrust of Iraq's actions to date leaves the council no room for leniency, the ambassadors said. They stressed that if Iraq truly wanted to ease the suffering of its people, it would have accepted the council's plan to sell oil to buy food and medicine as well as see that current humanitarian supplies are distributed throughout the country, especially to Kurdish and Shia areas.
In its presidential statement, the council cited specific examples of problems with Iraq over the Kuwait border; elimination of chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic weapons programs; repatriation of and access to Kuwait and third country nationals in Iraq; repayment and servicing of Iraq's foreign debt; return of Kuwaiti property; monthly statement of gold and foreign currency reserves; and human rights violations against Iraqi civilians.
The council noted the "serious non-compliance with the obligations concerning the programs for weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles" and the failure of Iraq to meet its financial obligations of the weapons elimination program.
"The Security Council remains deeply concerned at the grave human rights abuses that, despite the provisions of Resolution 688 (1991), the government of Iraq continues to perpetrate against its population," the statement said. "The members of the council are particularly concerned at the reported restriction on the supplies of essential commodities, in particular food and fuel, which have been imposed by the government of Iraq on the three northern governorates of Dohuk, Erbil and Suleimaniya."
U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering noted that "once again the council stands at a critical juncture in its consideration of restoring and maintaining international peace and security in the gulf region. My government and the council will be watching closely Iraqi actions in the future."
"By disdaining and failing to comply with the council's resolution, Iraq risks making, as it has in the past, yet another tragic miscalculation, the full consequences of which the government of Iraq once again will have to bear," Pickering said.
British Ambassador David Hannay said that the council's discussion "is about compliance or rather about the lack of it." The list of non-compliance "is a somber and disturbing one" that needs "to be remedied urgently if there is to be any hope of restoring peace in the gulf region."
"It is essential that the Iraqi leadership should hear directly from the council the extent and nature of our concern about Iraq's non-compliance with Security Council resolutions...and that they should get a clear, first-hand impression of the council's determination that its resolutions should be fully implemented," he said.
On the destruction of Iraqi weapons facilities, Hannay said, "there is no scope for negotiations."
Ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee of France urgently called on Iraq to use the mechanism set up by the council to sell oil to pay for food and other humanitarian supplies. Iraq, he said, "bears the sole responsibility" for its people's suffering because it refuses to accept the council's proposal.
Iraq must stop lying to the council, Merimee said. "The partial information meagerly doled out cannot go on. It is time for Iraq to submit a precise and full picture of its military program."
Sanctions cannot be lifted on a basis proportional to the degree of Iraq's compliance, he said. "They must remain fully in place until Iraq fulfills its obligations, especially in light of Iraq's consistent desire to challenge the authority of the council."
Russian Ambassador Valentin Lozinskiy said that "an extremely dangerous situation now exists" and he expressed regret that Iraq's actions are intensifying the suffering of the Iraqi people.
The U.N.'s constant discovery of hidden weapons and Iraq's refusal to destroy missile production facilities "are unacceptable," Lozinskiy said.
Russia "favors Iraq's return to the international community and the lifting of sanctions, but to do that the Iraqi government itself must recognize the seriousness of its errors and...instead of confrontation with the Security Council carry out all its demands," he said. "There can be no other solution for the Iraqi government."
China, the last of the five permanent members of the council to speak, also expressed the hope that the council meeting will help Iraq realize the futility of its actions.
Ambassador Li Daoyu said that China feels the council's "resolutions remain essential to the restoration of peace and stability in the gulf region and must be fully implemented."
"Since much remains to be done, we sincerely hope that Iraq will continue cooperate...and earnestly fulfill its obligations," Li said.
Venezuelan Ambassador Diego Arria said that his government places the sole responsibility for the entire crisis on Iraq. The meeting, Arria said, "gives us opportunity to make constructive progress" but the decisions must be taken entirely by Iraqi government, not the Security Council.
Japanese Ambassador Yoshio Hatano noted that the "tragic consequences of Iraq's actions continue to be felt" and the Iraqi people must be counted among the victims of their government's actions.
"Regrettably I'm not sure the Iraqi leadership fully understands the gravity of the situation," Hatano said, pointing to the government's defiant stance. "The leaders must realize they are not in a position to decide which provisions they will implement and which will not. There is no room for negotiation."
"Japan believes the Iraqi leadership has the moral obligation to alleviate the agony of its own people by exporting oil," he said.
As a small country, Hungary is acutely aware of and distressed by Iraq's actions from the invasion of Kuwait to the weapons programs, said its ambassador, Andre Erdos. "Iraq needs to demonstrate a more cooperate attitude. I don't see genuine change in Iraqi behavior."
Erdos said that the council's resolutions "cannot be viewed as basis for negotiation or subject for any kind of bargaining. They have been drafted with scrupulous care and are unambiguous."
Iraq must broaden its cooperation with the Special Commission on the destruction of weapons, Ambassador Jose Ayala Lasso of Ecuador said. "The mandate of council must be completed and without exception."
Moroccan Ambassador Ahmed Snoussi said that the council "wishes to demonstrate it is not a cold machine and it is able to not disregard the human contingencies." However, he said, "at this stage it is up to Iraqi government to assure us and reassure us of its will to strictly implement" the resolutions.
"We hope this meeting will be an opportunity to create a real peace and the Iraqi delegation will leave with the sense that council listened to them in an objective way and the council will be convinced it is dealing with a responsible country -- one willing to live in peace and harmony," Snoussi said.
Cape Verde Ambassador Jose Eduardo Barbosa said that sanctions are "appropriate" and his country expects Iraq to be more cooperative with the council. "We ascribe the utmost importance to the implementation of the resolutions," Barbosa said. "We see this meeting as a first step of the process that would further promote the implementation of the council's resolutions."
Tariq Aziz told the council that his delegation came "in good faith" to make the facts clear that his government had "seriously endeavored to implement the resolutions."
Nevertheless, he accused "a number of countries on the council" of putting intelligence operatives on the special commission investigating the weapons programs so that "false allegations and extremist conclusions" would be presented. Tariq Aziz said that some elements of the cease-fire resolution are difficult to carry out and will take a while longer to complete. He proposed a technical meeting between U.N. officials, the council and Iraqi experts to discuss the disarmament conditions.
After the meeting, Pickering called Iraq's presentation "a lamentable performance" that did not address the council's concerns about the Kurds, the Shia, or other human rights questions.
Pickering said that the Iraqi minister did not address any of the council's concerns, "answered none of our questions, and attempted more importantly to set the stage for complete renegotiation of mandatory Security Council resolutions."
Tariq Aziz "attempted to throw a great deal of dust over the affair with all kinds of accusations," the ambassador said.
Pickering said the Iraqi presentation was "in part an insult to the council members and their intelligence and in part a serious miscalculation and misreading of what it is the Security Council had asked Iraq to do."
NNNN
File Identification: 03/11/92, PO-308; 03/11/92, EP-319; 03/11/92, EU-304; 03/11/92, NE-302; 03/12/92, AR-406; 03/12/92, AS-407
Product Name: Wireless File
Product Code: WF
Languages: Spanish
Keywords: UNITED NATIONS-SECURITY COUNCIL; INSPECTIONS; ARMS CONTROL VERIFICATION; IRAQ/Defense & Military; ARMISTICE; ARRIA, DIEGO; AZIZ, TARIQ; NUCLEAR WEAPONS; MILITARY CAPABILITIES;
MILITARY TECHNOLOGY; PICKERING, THOMAS
Thematic Codes: 1UN; 1NE; 1AC
Target Areas: AR; EA; EU; NE
PDQ Text Link: 219129; 219276
USIA Notes: *92031108.POL
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
