DATE=3/1/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAQ-HUMANITARIAN RELIEF (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259743
BYLINE=BRECK ARDERY
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations humanitarian coordinator in
Iraq, who is resigning his post to protest the effect
of sanctions on the Iraqi people, spoke to reporters
Wednesday and painted a bleak picture of daily life in
that country. V-O-A Correspondent Breck Ardery was at
the meeting with the U-N official, Hans von Sponeck
[pron: `SPAHN-eck] and has this report.
TEXT: Mr. von Sponeck says the so-called "oil-for-
food" program is simply inadequate to provide even a
minimal standard of living for the average Iraqi. He
says the program, in which Iraq is allowed to sell oil
to raise money for humanitarian supplies, works out to
just 252 U-S dollars a year for each Iraqi citizen.
He told reporters that every measure of human well-
being, including infant mortality, school enrollment,
homelessness and physical and mental illness, has
deteriorated in the nine years since U-N sanctions
were imposed on Iraq.
Mr. von Sponeck, who recently resigned, effective the
end of this month, is especially alarmed about the
poor state of education in Iraq.
/// VON SPONECK ACT ///
Iraqi youth, in my opinion, is increasingly ill-
prepared to accept their responsibilities in
nation-building, and I think the implications of
that you understand.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. von Sponeck says he must choose his words
carefully, as he is still a U-N official until the end
of March. However, it was evident by what he told
reporters that he believes the comprehensive sanctions
against Iraq have been a humanitarian disaster.
At no time did Mr. von Sponeck criticize the
government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
However, he did concede that problems affecting Iraq
are both "external" and "internal."
The United States ambassador to the United Nations,
Richard Holbrooke, believes the Iraqi government is
the central reason that the Iraqi people are
suffering.
/// HOLBROOKE ACT ///
The present oil-for-food program and other
arrangements leave plenty of room for resources
to reach the people of Iraq. But they are
denied that opportunity by the Iraqi government.
It is crystal clear.
/// END ACT ///
The U-S State Department says the Iraqi government has
spent almost two-billion dollars on palace
construction since the end of the Gulf War, and that
top Iraqi officials are spending thousands of dollars
a week on imported whiskey and other luxury goods.
(Signed)
NEB/UN/BA/LSF/WTW
01-Mar-2000 17:38 PM EDT (01-Mar-2000 2238 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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