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March 2000

• RFE/RL Iraq Report, Volume 3, Number 8 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 31 March 2000 -- IRAQ HOLDS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS / OPEC TO INCREASE OIL PRODUCTION / IRAQ RUMORED TO BUILD MISSILE FACTORY IN SUDAN / REPRESENTATIVE GILMAN: U.S. 'LOSING GROUND TO SADDAM HUSSEYN.' / OFFICIAL OPPOSES LIFTING OF SANCTIONS / KUWAITI ON SADDAM'S 'STRATEGIC MINDSET.' / IRAQI FORUM FOR DEMOCRACY ON ASSYRIAN RIGHTS / KURDISH NAWRUZ RECEPTION IRKS TURKS / PUK TARGET OF PKK, IRAQI PROPAGANDA / BAGHDAD EVICTS TURKMENS FROM KIRKUK
• SECURITY COUNCIL, ADOPTING RESOLUTION 1293 (2000) UNANIMOUSLY, DOUBLES AMOUNT IRAQ MAY SPEND FOR OIL SPARE PARTS, EQUIPMENT Press Release SC/6838 - 31 March 2000 - The Security Council increased the amount of money that Iraq may use to purchase oil spare parts and equipment to $600 million under the programme of humanitarian assistance known as "oil-for-food".
• Security Council Authorizes Increased Spending for Iraqi Oil Industry By Judy Aita Washington File 31 March 2000 -- The Security Council agreed to a U.S. proposal March 31 that will allow Iraq to spend a total of $600 million for oil spare parts and equipment under U.N. supervision to upgrade its oil industry.
• U-N IRAQ OIL Voice of America 31 March 2000 -- The United Nations Security Council has approved a resolution authorizing sanction-burdened Iraq to double the amount it can spend for oil industry equipment.
• Iraqis fire AAA at ONW aircraft UNITED STATES EUROPEAN COMMAND (29 Mar 00) Coalition aircraft responded to the Iraqi attacks by dropping ordnance on elements of the Iraqi integrated air defense system.
• IRAQ ELECTIONS Voice of America 28 March 2000 -- Iraqi election officials say all 165 candidates of the ruling Baath party have been elected to the new parliament in balloting that was cast as a show of support for President Saddam Hussein.
• IRAQ ELECTIONS Voice of America 27 March 2000 -- Most of Iraq's nine-million eligible voters cast ballots (Monday) in an election that the official news media cast as a vote of solidarity for President Saddam Hussein.
• IRAQ/OIL Voice of America 25 March 2000 -- Iraqi Oil Ministry officials announced Saturday they would boost the country's oil production by about 700-thousand barrels a day.
• Text: Ambassador Cunningham's Security Council Remarks on Iraq 24 March 2000 -- United Nations -- "Even when given the opportunity to properly feed the Iraqi population, the Government of Iraq chooses not to do so," U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham told the Security Council March 24.
• SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS SECURITY COUNCIL SHOULD SEEK EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO ALLEVIATE SUFFERING OF PEOPLE OF IRAQ Press Release SG/SM/7338 SC/6834 - 24 March 2000 -- The oil-for-food programmepurpose is to alleviate the impact of sanctions on the Iraqi population, since they are not direct targets. It has undoubtedly brought them some relief, but many of the essential needs of the population remain unsatisfied.
• UN IRAQI OIL Voice of America 24 March 2000 -- The United States today (Friday) introduced a resolution in the U-N Security Council that would substantially increase the amount of money that Iraq is allowed to spend on its oil industry.
• SPEECH BY FRANCE'S PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL (New York, 24 march 2000) Admittedly, the Iraqi Government bears a heavy share of the initial blame for this disastrous situation. But the Security Council can no longer disregard its own responsibility in the matter, which is indisputable and increasingly condemned by international public opinion
• U-N-IRAQ DEBATE Voice of America 24 March 2000 -- U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today (Friday) that delays on shipments to Iraq are hindering the humanitarian relief program there.
• IRAQ /IRAN ATTACKS Voice of America 22 March 2000 -- Iraq has blamed Iran for a mortar attack on a residential area of Baghdad that reportedly killed four people and injured 38 Tuesday night.
• U-S - IRAQ Voice of America 22 March 2000 -- A senior U-S official has acknowledged that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is likely to remain in office longer than President Clinton.
• Text: U.S. Statement on Twelfth Anniversary of the Halabja Massacre 17 March 2000 -- As the U.S. Government extended greetings to Muslims around the world on the beginning of Eid al-Adha on March 16, it also recalled that this day marks the twelfth anniverary of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons attack on Halabja, a Kurdish city in northeastern Iraq.
• IRAQ SANCTIONS Voice of America 17 March 2000 -- A coalition of private organizations is calling for an end to United Nations sanctions on Iraq. They say the sanctions have been responsible for the deaths of about one-million Iraqis.
• U-N / IRAQ REPORT Voice of America 14 March 2000 -- U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan says Iraq's oil industry is in decline and is in urgent need of repair to meet that country's humanitarian needs.
• COALITION AIRCRAFT STRIKE IRAQI SAM BATTERIES UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND March 14 2000 - F/A-18 "Hornet" and F-14 "Tomcat," aircraft enforcing the Southern No-Fly Zone used precision guided munitions to strike two Iraqi surface-to-air missile batteries near Abu Sukhayr and Al Numaniya in southern Iraq.
• COALITION AIRCRAFT STRIKE IRAQI MILITARY TARGETS IN THE SOUTH UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND March 11 2000 - F-16 "Fighting Falcon," U.S. Navy F/A-18 "Hornet" and F-14 "Tomcat," and British Royal Air Force GR-1 "Tornado" aircraft used precision-guided munitions to strike Iraqi military anti-aircraft artillery batteries in southern Iraq.
• IRAQ-ARMS INSPECTIONS Voice of America 10 March 2000 -- The United Nations today (Friday) formally appointed 16 people to advise the new weapons inspection commission for Iraq.
• SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS 16 COMMISSIONERS FOR UN MONITORING, VERIFICATION AND INSPECTION COMMISSION Press Release SG/A/724 IK/289 -- 10 March 2000 - Today, the Secretary-General appointed 16 Commissioners for the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
• PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR DISARMAMENT 10 March 2000 -- Not all the appointees were government nominees, he said, adding that in nine instances, the Secretariat reached out to individual experts to have them appointed.
• Iraqis fire AAA and target ONW aircraft with radar UNITED STATES EUROPEAN COMMAND (09 Mar 00) -- Iraqi forces fired anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) from a site north of Bashiqah and targeted coalition aircraft with radar from a site northwest of Tall Afar. Coalition aircraft responded to the Iraqi attacks by dropping ordnance on elements of the Iraqi integrated air defense system.
• Secretary General Names Iraqi Weapons Commission Advisors By Judy Aita Washington File 08 March 2000 -- Secretary General Kofi Annan sent to the Security Council March 8 a list of 17 weapons experts to serve on the new board of commissioners to advise the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission (UNMOVIC) for Iraq.
• Accelerated procedures for the approval of contracts for specified humanitarian supplies for Iraq United Nations Office of the Iraq Programme oil for food 3 March 2000 -- As of 1 March 2000, the United Nations has begun implementation of accelerated procedures for the approval of contracts for humanitarian supplies for Iraq.
• Iraqis fire SAMs at ONW aircraft UNITED STATES EUROPEAN COMMAND (02 Mar 00) -- Iraqi forces fired multiple surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) from a site northwest of Mosul. Coalition aircraft responded to the Iraqi attacks by dropping ordnance on elements of the Iraqi integrated air defense system.
• Text: Sanctions Committee Decisions on Iraqi Hajj Pilgrims 02 March 2000 -- The Security Council agreed on March 1 to distribute funds out of Iraq's oil escrow account to fund Iraqi hajj pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia, but Iraq has, for the third year, rejected the council's offer.
• Blix Takes Over UN Weapons Inspectors for Iraq Judy Aita Washington File 01 March 2000 -- Sketching out the beginnings of a new UN weapons inspection team for Iraq, Hans Blix, a disarmament expert and former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), took over the helm of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) March 1.
• IRAQ-HUMANITARIAN RELIEF Voice of America 01 March 2000 -- 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.
• IRAQ PILGRIMS Voice of America 01 March 2000 -- A planeload of elderly Iraqis has flown to Saudi Arabia for the annual haj, or Muslim pilgrimage, despite an international ban.
• IRAQ ARMS INSPECTOR Voice of America 01 March 2000 -- The new chief U-N weapons inspector for Iraq, Hans Blix, formally began his work today (Wednesday) by saying it is in Iraq's self-interest to permit inspections to resume.
• PRESS BRIEFING BY OUTGOING HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR IRAQ United Nations 1 March 2000 -- The Iraq "oil-for-food" programme was inadequate on three counts, Hans von Sponeck, outgoing Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, told journalists at a press briefing this afternoon at United Nations Headquarters.
• PRESS BRIEFING BY CHAIRMAN OF UNITED NATIONS MONITORING, VERIFICATION AND INSPECTION COMMISSION UNMOVIC 1 March 2000 - His first task as Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) would be to work out the organizational plan for the recently created Commission, Dr. Hans Blix told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.