[EXCERPTS] UNITED NATIONS REPORT
"A WORLD OF NEWS FROM THE WORLD ORGANIZATION" Daily Highlights Thursday, 7 May, 1998 This daily news round-up is prepared by the Central News Section, Office of Communication, Department of Public Information of the United Nations. ............... -- Head of UN Special Commission recommends travel restrictions against Iraqi officials be lifted. -- Iraq to submit distribution plan for humanitarian aid under UN oil-for-food programme. ................... UNSCOM CHIEF SAYS IRAQ PROVIDING UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO ALL "SENSITIVE" SITES The chief UN arms inspector has recommended that the Security Council lift the travel restrictions it imposed against Iraqi officials. Richard Butler, the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), which oversees the dismantling of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, says Iraq has met the requirements for ending the travel ban. The Security Council imposed the restrictions in November 1997 against Iraqi officials who interfered with UN arms inspections. In a letter released on Wednesday, to the President of the Council, Mr. Butler said Iraq had granted unrestricted and unconditional access to all sites -- including those it designated "sensitive" and "presidential" -- that UNSCOM wished to inspect. Iraq had also granted the Commission unrestricted access to various equipment, Mr. Butler wrote. However, it had not yet provided access to records which the Commission had previously requested. He said he hoped the Iraqi Government would provide these records. In the next few days, Iraq was expected to submit its draft distribution plan for food and medicine it is allowed to import under the UN's oil-for-food programme, a UN spokesman said on Thursday. Eric Falt, the spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, told correspondents in Baghdad that when the plan was ready it would be forwarded to the Secretary-General. He said the Government was now finalizing the various sectoral components, with direct input from the UN on the share to be allocated to northern Iraq. Representatives of the technical ministries had also been working closely with UN agencies, but the Government had final responsibility for the document, he added. The target for the new and enhanced humanitarian allocation was $3 billion, up from $1.3 billion in phases I, II, and III of the oil-for-food programme, he said, adding that expenditures depended on available revenues and on how much oil Iraq was able to pump. Mr. Falt said the current nutritional and health status of the Iraqi people had received a lot of attention in government reports and the media. However, educational needs were enormous and they affected the future and the spirit of millions of Iraqi school children and university students. "It is critical that the Government be able to rebuild the entire eduction system as quickly as possible, in order to recover from initial damages and now from a severe lack of funding," he added. ...............
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