Tracking Number: 224104
Title: "Iraq Continues to 'Cheat and Retreat' on Cease-Fire." Iraqi compliance with the UN Persian Gulf war cease-fire accord continues to be a process of "cheat and retreat," as
Iraq continues to seek ways to evade full compliance. (920415)
Translated Title: Irak continua 'enganando y evadiendo' respecto acuerdo cesacion fuego.; L Irak continue a violer le cessez-le-feu. (920415)
Author: MANDINE, ROSALIND (USIA STAFF WRITER)
Date: 19920415
Text:
IRAQ CONTINUES TO "CHEAT AND RETREAT" ON CEASE-FIRE
(Compliance must be watched, U.S. official says) (560) By Rosalind Mandine USIA Staff Writer Washington -- Iraqi compliance with the United Nations Persian Gulf War cease-fire accord continues to be a process of "cheat and retreat," a State Department official said April 15.
Even though the Iraqi government "has come to realize that the international coalition is going to maintain solidarity" on the U.N. sanctions and cease-fire accord, Iraq continues to seek ways to evade full compliance, the official said.
Despite Iraq's attempts to get as many concessions as it can "on the details," the official said, "I am confident that the United Nations will assure that the basic elements of these resolutions are enforced...."
Iraqi compliance with the sanctions "tends to be a matter of degree," the official said at a briefing for reporters at the USIA Foreign Press Center in Washington. The Iraqis continuously attempt to "evade the sanctions when they can," he said.
And such actions demonstrate that the international community must monitor Iraq's compliance, he stressed. "The issue is how they perform, not what they agree to do, because they'll agree to do anything," the official added.
As long as the international coalition and the United Nations keep the pressure on," Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will have to comply, "because there won't be any alternative for him," he said.
Asked whether military action is an option to ensure Iraqi compliance, the official stated, "We don't want an armed conflict with Iraq."
The United States insists on the Iraqi government's full compliance with the sanctions, he said, but he noted that there are "many, many ways of pressuring Iraq to get into compliance, short of an armed confrontation.".
"While we can never rule out any option, certainly the Iraqis have shown themselves able to get into compliance....It's up to the world community to keep the pressure on to make sure they do," he said.
In response to a question, the official said that while the United States can not rule out unilateral action on its part, the U.S. government prefers to deal with the issue of Iraqi compliance in the context of an international coalition, as it did during the Gulf war.
Commenting on the upcoming Kurdish elections in northern Iraq, the official said the United States has been "reassured" by statements made by Kurdish leaders that "these elections are to establish some kind of local authorities to deal with local administrative problems, and they're not in any way aimed at separatism or independence, which have obviously destabilizing elements for that whole area."
Asked about Syrian support for the Kurdish Workers Party's actions against the Turkish government, the official said the U.S. position on the PKK "has long been that this is an organization that engages in terrorist acts."
The official declined to comment on reports that the Turkish air force is preparing to strike PKK camps in the Bekaa Valley. He pointed out, however, that the United States encourages "a process of dialogue between the Turkish and Syrian governments that helps induce the Syrians to end their toleration for this kind of terrorist activity from their territories or from territories that their military forces are in a position to deal with."
NNNN
File Identification: 04/15/92, PO-305; 04/15/92, EP-318; 04/15/92, EU-312; 04/16/92, AE-405; 04/16/92, AR-407; 04/16/92, AS-403; 04/20/92, AF-103
Product Name: Wireless File
Product
Code: WF
Languages: Spanish; French
Keywords: IRAQ/Defense & Military; PERSIAN GULF WAR; ARMISTICE; DISARMAMENT; UNITED NATIONS-SECURITY COUNCIL; IRAQ-US RELATIONS
Thematic
Codes: 1NE; 1UN
Target Areas: AF; AR; EA; EU
PDQ Text Link: 224104; 224130; 224534
USIA Notes: *92041505.POL
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
