ACCESSION NUMBER:381878
FILE ID:PO1103
DATE:03/06/95
TITLE:U.S. SAYS IT HAS SUPPORT TO KEEP IRAQI SANCTIONS IN PLACE (03/06/95)
TEXT:*95030603.PO1
U.S. SAYS IT HAS SUPPORT TO KEEP IRAQI SANCTIONS IN PLACE
(Albright cites success of trip to explain issue) (770)
By Judy Aita
USIA United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The United States has won support from a majority of U.N.
Security Council members for its position that the sanctions regime on
Iraq, including the oil embargo, should remain in place until Baghdad
complies with all relevant council resolutions, U.S. Ambassador Madeleine
Albright said March 6.
At a press conference at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Albright
said she was pleased with the results of the recent trip she undertook at
the request of President Clinton to ensure that the sanctions regime in
place since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait would be sustained during
upcoming sanctions reviews in March and April.
Russia and France have been pressing the council to set a date for lifting
the oil embargo after the U.N. Special Commission overseeing the
destruction of Iraqi weapons (UNSCOM) certifies that the long-term
monitoring regime is fully operational. That certification is expected
later this year.
Citing developments in Iraq to support the U.S. case for concern over Iraq's
intentions if the oil embargo is lifted and Baghdad again has oil revenues,
Albright discussed new photographs of a rebuilt Iraqi chemical factory and
two major ballistic missile factories, photographs previously shown to the
council depicting lavish homes and palaces of top Iraqi officials, and
photographs of Iraqi military units equipped with stolen Kuwaiti weapons.
What concerns the United States, she said, is that the Iraqis "have been
talking about having scarce resources, saying that they cannot afford to
feed their people and at the same time we have photographic evidence that
they have rebuilt these facilities that are for the production of chemical
weapons."
"The intention of the Iraqis is under question given the fact that they have
rebuilt these facilities at a time they are saying that they can't afford
to do things for their own people," the ambassador said. "So it's the
intent that we are concerned about."
1
If the oil embargo is lifted and Iraq expels the U.N. inspectors now
assigned to the long-term monitoring program, the United States has
estimated that, given the current status of the rebuilt facilities, Iraq
could be manufacturing ballistic missiles in one year and could resume full
production of chemical weapons in two years.
"What we need to do is assure ourselves of the intentions of the Iraqi
regime, and we don't have...an awful lot of latitude here to allow for
mistakes," Albright said.
"A regime that in the past has had chemical, biological as well as nuclear
weapons (and) is in fact rebuilding facilities does not get the benefit of
the doubt from us," she said.
Asked if the United States is prepared to use its veto power in the council
to stop the lifting of sanctions, Albright stressed that after her
consultations she does not believe that such an action would be necessary.
The ambassador explained that in the past months there had been "some
ambiguity" in the positions of some council members, along with five new
members joining the council in January. Therefore, the Clinton
administration believed that her trip was needed "in order to lock in a
majority."
"It is my belief that this trip has, in fact, locked in such a majority and
therefore it would seem to be unnecessary to use a veto; however, if that
is necessary we are prepared to do so," Albright said.
"But given the kind of support...from the highest levels of the governments
where I was, I truly believe that we have a majority (and) that a veto
would not be necessary...for the foreseeable future," she said.
Between February 23 and March 4 Albright met with British Foreign Secretary
Douglas Hurd, Sultan Qaboos of Oman, Czech President Vaclav Havel, Italian
Prime Minister Lamberto Dini, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, and
Honduran President Roberto Reina. She also spoke by phone with Argentinian
President Carlos Menem and the foreign ministers of Botswana and Rwanda.
Over the past year U.S. officials have said that the U.S. position on
lifting the Iraqi sanctions is based on a judgment call the United States
believes the council should make about the Baghdad regime's intentions and
behavior across the board, including deployment of forces in the south last
October, refusal to return Kuwaiti equipment, refusal to provide an
accounting of Kuwaiti prisoners, refusal to renounce terrorism, and refusal
to stop repression against the Kurds in the north and the Shia in the
south.
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