10 November 1997
UNITED STATES PRESSING FOR FURTHER SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ
(U.N. envoys urge Iraq to "work within the system") (1570) By Judy Aita USIA United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The United States is drafting "a strong resolution with punitive measures" against Iraq in the Security Council, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson said November 10. The Security Council heard the report of a special mission sent by Secretary General Kofi Annan to Baghdad to try to convince Iraq to fully comply with the Council's Gulf war resolutions requiring the destruction of all of Iraq's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons capabilities and its ballistic missiles by the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM). The envoys were unsuccessful in persuading Iraq to rescind its decision to bar U.S. weapons inspectors or allow UNSCOM's U-2 surveillance flights. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said he wants to take his case directly to the Council himself. The United States and the other four permanent members of the Council were scheduled to hold a separate meeting afterward to begin discussing the wording of the new resolution. Before going into a private Security Council meeting, Richardson said that the U.S. proposal for a Council resolution contains four elements: a condemnation of the Iraqi action; a call for full cooperation and compliance with UNSCOM and the U.N. inspectors; travel restrictions against Iraqi officials, and the threat of more serious actions to follow. "It is our view that this is a strong resolution with teeth that would send an unmistakable message," Richardson told journalists outside the Council chambers. "Our objective is Security Council strength and unanimity....and with other delegations we are going to advance this resolution," he said. "This is not a fight between the United States and Iraq. Iraq has chosen to fight the international community and the United Nations," Richardson said. Iraq has tested the resolve of the Security Council, trying to break the Council's unity, one Western diplomat said after the meeting. The Council will now be using diplomatic measures through a new resolution with new sanctions to impress upon Baghdad that the Council remains united in its desire to see the cease-fire resolutions fulfilled. "The Security Council is the area for debate on this issue. The United States wants to see a strong, unified Security Council with a resolution that is punitive, that is resolute, that is direct," the ambassador said. "The objective is very clear: to return Iraq to compliance with UNSCOM and Security Council resolutions," he said. "Tariq Aziz has come to the U.N. talking about dialogue. For him that's defiance, that's delay, that's denial, that's insulting the Secretary of State, that's calling people names," Richardson said. "What we heard today is the same old story: He always blames someone else for the bad situation (the Iraqis) themselves create," Richardson said. "I would like to remind everyone that UNSCOM was created because Iraq started a war by invading Kuwait and destroying its capital city. It threatened the states in the Gulf region, it hurled SCUD missiles against Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain and created horrific environmental problems by spilling oil in the Gulf and setting hundreds of fires in Kuwait's oil fields," Richardson said. "The world doesn't have a short memory. The Security Council decided that Iraq shouldn't have the capability to do that again," the ambassador said. Richardson said that the resolution will not affect the so-called "oil-for-food" resolution which allows Iraq to sell $2,000 million of oil every six months to buy humanitarian supplies under strict U.N. supervision. "That is a humanitarian issue that deals with the Iraqi people," the ambassador said. The Iraqi people are suffering, Richardson said. "Suffering under a brutal regime that has gassed its own people, summarily executed its own people because they speak out in opposition to the regime. The oil-for-food resolution was designed to help Iraqis." Richardson said he saw no reason for the Council to meet with Tariq Aziz. "He came to the United Nations unwilling to change Iraq's position, talking about dialogue but all he does is deceive...move ahead with more delaying tactics," the ambassador said. Talking with journalists after meeting separately with the Secretary General and the President of the Security Council in the morning November 10, Tariq Aziz complained that UNSCOM was dominated by Americans and that one American inspector was a particular problem. The deputy prime minister said that he "cannot simply trust" that UNSCOM is in full control of the U-2 surveillance flights conducted by the United States for the United Nations. Although he said he was not seeking a confrontation with the Security Council, the Iraqi official demanded that the Security Council as a whole listen to his government's concerns and challenged the validity of UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler's reports. "Let Mr. Butler come and sit in the Council and comment on all our points and give fair opportunity to comment on his accusations which has been unfortunately misinforming," Tariq Aziz said. He also accused the United States, Britain and Japan of holding up "oil-for food" contracts under which Iraq is allowed to sell oil in order to pay off some of its cease-fire obligations and buy humanitarian supplies. "If anybody thinks he is going to scare Iraq with further sanctions, I am telling outright he will not scare us," Tariq Aziz said. Nevertheless, Secretary General Kofi Annan and his three special envoys said they tried to impress upon the Iraqi deputy prime minister that his government would not get a hearing by the Council while it is "outside the system." The team is headed by former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi, currently U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, and includes Ambassador Emilio Cardenas of Argentina and Ambassador Jan Eliasson of Sweden, a former U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. Their mission was to seek full compliance by Iraq with all relevant Security Council resolutions and rescind the decision of October 29 to expel Americans working for UNSCOM. They envoys were not there to get into negotiations, but to listen to bring back what the Iraqis told them, Annan said. Annan said that the message his envoys underscored was that "all that needed to be done and all that was required was for Iraq to undertake to comply with the obligations under all relevant Security Council resolutions." Once that was done Annan said he was prepared to recommend to the Council to listen to Tariq Aziz. However, as long as Iraq refused to comply, he could make no such recommendation. Cardenas said that "the fact is they are outside the system and not only outside the system but also, in a certain fashion, trying to dictate the mechanism through which they would like to be surveyed and the extent to which they would like to deal with the sanctions that the Security Council has imposed." "And that is, as we told them, utterly unrealistic," Cardenas said. The Secretary General said he hoped that "all is not lost and there could be some room for maneuver and that down the line in the next day or so we will have the right decisions taken." He added that it was unusual for him to get involved in the UNSCOM operations, which works for the Security Council. It is up to the Security Council to determine whether to listen to Tariq Aziz or whether to give Iraq more time to comply before moving to impose additional sanctions. "It is a matter between Iraq and the Security Council," he said. "Down the line, Iraq and the Security Council will have to resolve this issue if my attempts -- my offer of a ladder, my offer to work with all concerned -- does not work it will be between Iraq and the Security Council." Characterizing the situation as "extremely serious," Brahimi said that his team "told our Iraqi hosts that we very, very much hope they return into the system....and work within the system. They have grievances. These grievances must be listened to and taken into account, but that can be done when they get into the system and not before." Eliasson said that they spent time "not only listening to Iraq but arguing why they should rescind their decision, why it should be in their enlightened self-interest to work inside the system. One of the reasons being they could have a more fair hearing if they were to comply." "They are outside the system and have grievances. These grievances will not be heard" unless they comply, Eliasson said. Annan said that the United Nations "definitely cannot" accept that any country dictate the composition of any U.N. operation anywhere in the world. "How U.N. teams are composed is strictly a matter for the United Nations. They are composed on the basis of competence, on the needs and it is the U.N. and UNSCOM that makes the determinations. Richardson also said that the United States would "absolutely not" agree to eliminating Americans from the UNSCOM teams. "The United States, in cooperation with the United Nations, feels very strongly that these are decisions that UNSCOM and the inspection team must make. The Iraqis must not have the right to pick and choose who conducts the inspections," the ambassador said. "It's political, it's discriminatory, and its another show of their delaying tactic and obstructionism," Richardson said.
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