DATE=8/23/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAQ / U-N (L) (CQ)
NUMBER=2-265784
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// EDS: Replaces CR 2-265782 to fix 8th
graph of text by taking out reference to Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez and eliminate graphs nine and 10
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INTRO: Iraq has rejected a new United Nations team
created to monitor Iraqi weapons programs and says it
will not be allowed to enter the country, even if it
means continued international sanctions. V-O-A's
Scott Bobb reports from our Middle East bureau in
Cairo that the development comes amid feelings in Iraq
that international sanctions against it are weakening.
TEXT: Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, told
reporters in Baghdad (Wednesday) the government does
not recognize the United Nations resolution that
created the new weapons monitoring commission. As a
result, he said, the country will not receive any
person related to it.
Mr. Aziz said Iraq is ready to face all challenges in
order to defend its sovereignty and rights.
The Iraqi official was reacting to the announcement
earlier this week that the head of the new commission,
former Swedish diplomat Hans Blix, has recruited a
core group of more than 40 inspectors to go to Baghdad
to resume weapons inspections.
The inspections were begun after the Gulf War and were
meant to prevent Iraq from building weapons of mass
destruction.
The commission was created last December after its
predecessor, UNSCOM, came under criticism by some U-N
Security Council members and Iraq vowed never to allow
it back into the country. UNSCOM inspectors left
Baghdad two years ago charging Iraq was not
cooperating with the weapons inspections. This led to
four nights of intensive bombing by U-S and British
planes.
Since then, Iraq has adopted a defiant attitude toward
the inspections and has mounted a diplomatic offensive
aimed at weakening international sanctions that have
crippled its economy.
Many groups around the world oppose the sanctions,
saying they punish the Iraqi people and not the Iraqi
regime. This week, Russia complained to the United
Nations that the sanctions had deprived it of 30-
billion dollars worth of trade and prevented Iraq from
repaying seven-billion dollars of debt.
A ban on air travel to Iraq has also been broken in
the past week. The Arab Lawyers Union announced
Wednesday it intends to break the ban by flying a
delegation to Baghdad.
The Union's secretary-general, Saber Amar, told V-O-A
that members made the decision during a meeting in
Algeria last May.
/// AMAR ACT IN ARABIC FADE UNDER ///
Mr. Amar said the union has asked airlines in Algeria
and Jordan to provide a plane. He says there are
difficulties because airlines are reluctant to take
the risk.
Mr. Amar said the Lawyers Union wants to make the trip
to show its opposition to the sanctions. He said the
lawyers also want to question the authorities in
Baghdad about the fate of hundreds of missing Kuwaiti
prisoners of war. (Signed)
NEB/SB/GE/JP
23-Aug-2000 11:37 AM LOC (23-Aug-2000 1537 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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