Tracking Number: 254872
Title: "Iraq Not Fully Complying with Cease-Fire Obligations." Remarks of US Ambassador to the UN Edward Perkins before the UN Security Council regarding Iraq's continued failure
to fully comply with UN cease-fire resolutions that ended the Persian Gulf War. (921123)
Translated Title: L'Irak n'applique pas les resolutions de l'ONU. (921123)
Date: 19921123
Text:
IRAQ NOT
FULLY COMPLYING WITH CEASE-FIRE OBLIGATIONS
(Text: Perkins Security Council remarks) (2530) United Nations -- Demanding to know "when Iraq will comply fully and completely" with all its gulf war cease-fire obligations, U.S. Ambassador Edward Perkins told the U.N. Security Council November 23 that "more than two years after Iraq's unprovoked aggression against Kuwait, and despite the concerted will of the world community, the council still sees its requirements honored only partially."
The Security Council held a day-long session to discuss with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz Baghdad's record of compliance with the cease-fire demands spelled out in a series of Security Council resolutions enacted in the year after Iraq was expelled from Kuwait. The council held a similar session in March 1992. It uses the exchange to determine whether to maintain the wide-ranging economic and military sanctions imposed in 1990.
"My government notes that due to Iraqi intransigence the council's efforts must continue undiminished," Perkins said. "Without full and unconditional Iraqi compliance with all relevant resolutions, my government sees no reason to lift sanctions."
The ambassador said that Baghdad's lack of cooperation with weapons investigators was "shameful" and "indicated that the outlook for Iraqi cooperation is not promising."
Perkins also cited problems with Iraq over human rights abuses of the Kurds and Shia minorities, diversion of civilian food supplies to the military and security forces, and Iraq's continued claims on Kuwait.
Following is the text of Perkins' statement: (begin text) Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on the second of August 1990 launched this council's unprecedented effort to restore international peace and security in the Gulf. My government notes that due to Iraqi intransigence the Council's efforts must continue undiminished. More than two years after Iraq's unprovoked aggression against Kuwait, and despite the concerted will of the world community, the Council still sees its requirements honored only partially.
We have before us today a senior Iraqi delegation. Its members understand full well the events that have brought us to our session. On March 11 and 12, the Council received a similar delegation. In March, we were not provided authoritative, credible, and responsible answers. Today, we expect such answers. We must know when Iraq will comply fully and completely with all the relevant resolutions of the Council. The Council should hold its delegation today to the strictest standards of accountability. We should not hesitate to pose further questions to the Iraqi delegation after the presentation of its initial statement.
On April 3, 1991, the Council adopted Resolution 687. This resolution was one of the most important actions ever taken by the Council, responding to the hope of mankind to make the United Nations an instrument of peace and security. Resolution 687 required Iraq to take precise steps on many issues. Iraq formally notified the Security Council by letter on April 4, 1991, of its acceptance of the resolution.
Subsequently a series of resolutions spelled out Iraq's obligations in detail. Many of these resolutions were necessary because, from the first, Iraq has evaded its obligations.
In a letter to this Council on October 28, 1992, the Foreign Minister of Iraq challenged the implementation of Resolution 687. The U.S. rejects that challenge. If the Gulf region is to enjoy peace and security, Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles must be permanently -- and here I underline the word permanently -- eliminated. This goal requires Iraq's cooperation in two areas: first, the full and complete disclosure of its weapons programs; and second, long term monitoring and verification.
As we said to this Council in March, an unfortunate pattern has developed. Iraq makes declarations of minimal content, declarations which are clearly meant to misinform, misdirect, and conceal. Iraq divulges information about weapons programs only after confronted with incontrovertible proof uncovered by the Special Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. This record is not compliance.
In July, we witnessed an extraordinary example of Iraq's intransigence concerning its weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqi regime prevented a U.N. Special Commission team from carrying out an inspection of the Agriculture Ministry in Baghdad. Resolutions 687 and 707 had given the Special Commission the unqualified right to immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access to any site the Special Commission suspected of being related to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. The President of this Council declared on July 6 that Iraq's denial of access was a material and unacceptable breach of Resolution 687, which established the cease-fire and set other conditions essential to the restoration of peace and security in the region.
The Special Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency have provided the Council with much technical information about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. At the Council's March meeting, we outlined clearly the extent of Iraq's weapons programs. That meeting also revealed that Iraq sought to keep hidden many of its weapons of mass destruction facilities. Despite this, we have seen little improvement in Iraqi cooperation since March.
Iraq's record is shameful and confirms the importance of the provisions of Resolution 687 and Resolution 715 which describe the ongoing monitoring and verification of Baghdad's compliance with Resolution 687. We regret that Baghdad's performance to date indicates that the outlook for Iraqi cooperation is not promising.
Last month, the Council received a report from the Secretary General on the Special Commission's plan for monitoring Iraqi compliance with Section C of Resolution 687. That report cited major shortcomings in an Iraqi response of June 27, 1992, on future compliance verifications. The Secretary General's report noted that the Special Commission's plan for ongoing monitoring and verification, a plan drawn up well over a year ago, cannot go forward. The report indicates that the impasse on implementation of the plan is caused by Baghdad's refusal to take the essential steps, including the full, final complete disclosure, as required by Resolution 687, of all aspects of Iraqi programs to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometers. Similarly, the director general of the IAEA reports last month that long term monitoring will be effective only when Iraq provided information required by council resolutions.
Although some progress has been made since March, Iraq has left many gaps in its declarations to the Special Commission and the IAEA. Despite constant requests by U.N. inspectors, Iraq continues to refuse to supply the Special Commission and IAEA with lists of foreign suppliers of equipment for its weapons of mass destruction programs. These lists are essential; without them the Special Commission and IAEA will not have the proper baselines for long term monitoring and compliance.
Even more worrisome is the Iraqi call -- stated in the foreign minister's letter of October 28 -- for the Security Council to conduct a radical review of Resolutions 707 and 715, which demanded that Iraq allow full access to all sites and accept a long term monitoring regime. The letter also questioned the Special Commission's operation of surveillance helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. These Iraqi views raised further doubts about Iraq's readiness to comply fully with all relevant resolutions of the Security Council.
We are deeply concerned about the prospects for ongoing monitoring and verification in Iraq. This process is essential to the future of international security in the Gulf region. Once again, we object to, and will not countenance, an Iraqi belief that Baghdad can decide for itself what this council intended by its resolutions.
Weapons of mass destruction are but one aspect of Iraq's failure to comply with Resolution 687.
Even though boundary issues are not scheduled to be settled until next year, the Iraqi record thus far is disappointing. The Iraq-Kuwait boundary Demarcation Commission concluded its seventh session on October 16. This was the second successive session in which Iraq declined to participate. The Iraqi foreign minister's letter of May 21, 1992 was most disturbing. This perplexing message, as the president of the council noted, recalled past Iraqi claims to Kuwait without noting Baghdad's subsequent repudiation of these claims. I need not remind the council that the boundary issue, and indeed Iraq's challenge to Kuwaiti sovereignty, reaches to the very cause of the Gulf war.
In response, the council on August 26 adopted Resolution 773, which emphasized the importance of the Iraq-Kuwait Boundary Demarcation Commission and underscored the inviolability of the boundary. When the demarcation of the land boundary is completed, we expect the Iraqi regime to accept in full the commission's work.
Iraq has not fulfilled other obligations of Resolution 687. These include repatriation of detained Kuwaiti and third country nationals, as well as the return of Kuwaiti property. Baghdad continues to refuse to cooperate on these issues. The regime also continues to deny unrestricted access by the International Committee of the Red Cross to detention facilities in Iraq. Baghdad refuses to investigate lists of missing detainees submitted by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Nor has Iraq yet reported effectively on what tracing steps it is taking on individual inquiry files.
The Iraqi regime's cruel treatment of its own civilian population led the Council to adopt Resolution 688 on April 5, 1991. The Council acted to confront Baghdad's mistreatment of its innocent civilians, especially in northern Iraq. Since then, the international response, including Operation Provide Comfort and extensive humanitarian aid, has eased some of the suffering in the North. The Baghdad regime's response has been an economic blockade of the North.
The blockade has deprived the region of goods, such as food and fuel, essential to the very survival of its people. My government has grave concerns about the risk of famine in northern Iraq this winter. The United Nations and the international community have taken it upon themselves to help people in the North; people who are entitled to far better treatment from the regime in Baghdad. Unfortunately, we have every reason to doubt that the Iraqi regime will respect fully the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding signed on October 22, 1992. Although the MOU is now one month old, only a trickle of relief has reached those most in need of help. Over 100 security incidents affecting U.N. personnel in Iraq during a six-month period earlier this year give little cause for confidence that Baghdad will act responsibly.
Iraq's human rights abuses are not limited to the North. In early August, the Council heard a disturbing presentation by UNHRC Special Rapporteur Max Van Der Stoel. In August, he spoke of deplorable health conditions, government-sponsored food blockades, air attacks and artillery bombardments in the southern marshes. He also reported incidents of forced relocations, and torture. Mr. Van Der Stoel concluded with the words, "if a full implementation of Resolution 688 cannot be assured, many thousands of innocent people are in danger of losing their lives. I express hope that the members of the Council will keep this in mind in their consideration of this matter."
Within weeks of Mr. Van Der Stoel's report to the Council, the United States and its coalition partners acted against Baghdad's repression of civilian communities in southern Iraq. President Bush announced Operation Southern Watch on August 26, in response to graphic proof of brutality, including the strafing of villages. Operation Southern Watch monitors implementation of Resolution 688 and deters the most serious forms of repression by the Iraqi military authorities. Monitoring is facilitated by a no-fly zone. As President Bush said in August, we are prepared to consider additional steps if the Iraqi regime continues to violate Resolution 688 or other Security Council resolutions.
Operation Southern Watch has been very successful. The Iraqi regime has stopped using aircraft to attack its civilian population, particularly in and around the southern marsh areas. There have been no major Iraqi military operations south of the 32nd parallel since the monitoring zone was announced, nor has there been any major increase in Iraqi forces in the South. Nevertheless, Baghdad's repression by other means continues in the South. We and the international community deplore this.
The Iraqi delegation may tell us today of human suffering brought about by economic sanctions established under Resolution 661. But the Council will recall that medical supplies have never been forbidden from import into Iraq. The embargo on food came to an end in April 1991, and large quantities were subsequently imported, but the Iraqi regime has callously manipulated food distribution as an instrument of repression. Resolution 687 authorized import of goods to meet essential civilian needs, as approved by the Sanctions Committee. The Sanctions Committee has worked long and diligently to note food shipments and distinguish essential humanitarian needs from Iraqi attempts to violate sanctions.
Since the imposition of the sanctions regime, the Sanctions Committee has approved for export to Iraq over 13 million tons of food and significant quantities of medicine, including over 20 tons of antibiotics. The Sanctions Committee recognizes that our dispute is not with the people of Iraq and, as a result, it has approved a wide range of goods to meet essential civilian needs. Over 127,000 tons of seed and 500 agricultural tractors have also been approved to help the Iraqi people produce their own food. If food is not reaching the needy in Iraq, it is because the Iraqi regime has diverted food imports to the military and security forces which allow Saddam to maintain his brutal dictatorship.
Resolutions 706 and 712 offered Iraq the opportunity to sell oil to finance purchases of food, medicine, and humanitarian supplies. As long ago as last February, the Council deplored Iraq's decision to discontinue discussions of how to implement these resolutions. At that time, the Council noted that Iraq had chosen not to meet the essential needs of its civilian population and, therefore, bore full responsibility for humanitarian suffering in the country.
Food shortages and other deprivations are not static factors; they are dynamic problems whose effects become more serious over time. Thus, the repression and human deprivation in Iraq today may be even more critical than before. The Council has sought every peaceful means to redress the suffering imposed by the Baghdad regime on the Iraqi people. For this reason, and to redress other suffering, my government included in Resolution 778 measures that permit the use of overseas Iraqi oil assets to fund the U.N. humanitarian programs, the Special Commission, and the Compensation Fund that benefits victims of the Iraqi invasion.
As the president said in his opening statement, it is imperative that Iraq fully comply with all relevant Security Council resolutions; the council expects no less. The council heard many Iraqi promises and allegations on March 11 and 12. The council has received many contentious letters from the Iraqi government since then. The Council may hear more such rhetoric today.
Without full and unconditional Iraqi compliance with all relevant resolutions, my government sees no reason to lift sanctions. The Iraqi delegation now has the opportunity to provide authoritative answers and to accept unconditionally all the relevant resolutions passed by the Council. Even more important, Iraq now has the opportunity to show by its actions that it will meet its obligations.
(end text) NNNN
File Identification: 11/23/92, TXT104; 11/23/92, EPF105; 11/23/92, EUR106; 11/23/92, LEF117; 11/23/92, NFS165; 11/24/92, AEF203; 11/27/92, AFF505
Product Name: Wireless File
Product
Code: WF
Languages: French
Keywords: PERKINS, EDWARD/Speaker; UNITED NATIONS-SECURITY COUNCIL; IRAQ/Defense & Military; MILITARY CAPABILITIES; TREATIES & AGREEMENTS; ARMISTICE; PERSIAN GULF WAR;
AZIZ, TARIQ; HUMAN RIGHTS; KURDS; MOSLEMS; LIVING CONDITIONS; INTERN
Document Type: TXT
Thematic Codes: 1UN; 1NE; 2HA; 1AC
Target Areas: EA; EU; AR; NE; AF
PDQ Text Link: 254872; 255721
USIA Notes: *92112304.TXT
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