ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:97030303.NNE
DATE:03/03/97
TITLE:03-03-97 NO CHANGE IN U.N. SANCTIONS ON IRAQ
TEXT:
(Review reveals no reason to end sanctions, Richardson says) (730)
By Judy Aita
USIA United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- Pointing out that "Iraq continues to be a threat to
peace and security in the region," U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson
said March 3 that the more than six-year-old U.N. sanctions are being
continued against Iraq because Baghdad has still not met the
requirements of the Gulf war cease-fire demands.
Speaking with journalists after a private meeting of the Security
Council, Richardson said the session showed that "there should be no
congratulations to Iraq.... Getting Iraq to comply is like pulling
teeth from somebody who doesn't want to open his mouth. So, again,
sanctions are renewed for the 36th time."
After conducting a routine review of the Iraqi sanctions, the council
determined that there was no reason to change the wide-ranging
economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait in
1990. (Iraq is currently selling a limited amount of oil under the
council-approved and closely supervised "oil-for food" plan to pay for
much-needed humanitarian goods.)
Council President Zbigniew Wlosowicz of Poland told journalists
afterwards that members of the council also gave their full support
and expressed their appreciation for the work of Ambassador Rolf
Ekeus, the chairman, and the other members of the U.N. Special
Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraq weapons (UNSCOM).
Richardson pointed out that Iraqi officials continue to block UNSCOM's
work and it took two visits by Ekeus and an official Security Council
statement backing Ekeus to get a new measure of cooperation from Iraq
on missile verification.
"While Ekeus deserves enormous support, Iraq should not be
congratulated" on the latest agreement which will allow the U.N. to
take parts out of Iraq to determine whether they are actually
destroyed SCUD missiles as claimed by Baghdad, he said.
After briefing the council, Ekeus said that while the issue of the
U.N.'s shipping missile parts from Iraq for analysis has been settled,
"it was seriously delayed for more than three months.
"I don't think that's the way to do business," Ekeus said. "Even if we
welcome the progress, we are disappointed that it should take that
time."
"I feel that the Iraqi people are the fundamental victims of these
delays," he said. The U.N. proposed "a purely technical process" to
ship the missile engines in November but was delayed until Deputy
Prime Minister Tariq Aziz recently stepped in.
"We would by now have had a full picture of that part of the problem.
Now we have to wait ... these delays are unnecessary," he said.
Ekeus said Iraq is still refusing to give serious answers on
substantive questions in the area of missiles and chemical weapons,
especially answers to U.N. questions about the amount of chemical
weapons manufactured and Iraq's extensive program to conceal SCUD
missiles after the Gulf war.
"We are not totally convinced" of the accuracy of Iraq's answers "and
we want to assure ourselves," he said.
Several "stumbling blocks" remain, he said. "Iraq has to hand over
documentation about the secret destruction it has carried out. It has
to give us access to the personnel involved so we can interview them.
Iraq also has to hand over the remnants of its weapons capabilities."
"It's very, very simple and, in a sense, in the hands of Iraq," Ekeus
said.
Ekeus reported in mid-October that UNSCOM believes that "limited but
highly significant quantities" of banned missiles, and certain
high-quality chemical and biological warfare agents and related
programs are still being hidden by Iraq more than five years after the
cease-fire resolution, officially known as 687.
"The commission's information indicates that Iraq has still not told
the full story of its weapons programs and handed over all its
proscribed weapons materials and capabilities for final disposal,"
UNSCOM said.
Those issues of missile warheads and chemical weapons agents are still
a concern to UNSCOM, Ekeus reported March 3.
British Ambassador Sir John Weston also pointed out that the council
is still not satisfied on other sanctions issues such as Iraqi
accounting of missing persons and Kuwaiti property, especially the
contents of the national archives.
"We clearly have quite a long way to go" before ending sanctions, Sir
John said.
NNNN
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
