DATE=09/29/00
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=FRANCE / IRAQ FLIGHT (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-267256
BYLINE=PAUL MILLER
DATELINE=PARIS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A flight from France to Iraq that was meant to protest United Nations sanctions against Iraq has been postponed. Paul Miller reports from Paris that various reasons have been offered for the postponement, but the organizers are saying the real reason is political.
TEXT: The delay in the flight was at first blamed on a dispute with a Belgian charter company, Bruxelles International, over the use of an aircraft. The French Press Agency said organizers had not received all the necessary papers.
Then there were reports that the plane did not have clearance from Turkey and Greece to fly over their airspace. The French government was said to be notifying the United Nations of a change in flight plan.
Organizers found it all suspicious - their highly publicized flight was scheduled to carry a number of French and European politicians who want to protest the sanctions against Iraq, which were placed on the country following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Earlier this week a relief flight traveled from Paris to Baghdad after the government of France notified the United Nations that the flight was not a commercial one, and therefore, according to France, did not violate the sanction against air travel.
Organizers of this flight accused the French government of doing an about face under pressure from the United States. Father Yves Buannic told the French press agency that Belgian authorities had also been part of what he called an act of cowardice.
This delay came as the sanctions against Iraq, imposed after the Gulf War 10 years ago, appeared to be weakening. France, Russia, Jordan and now Yemen have all sent humanitarian flights to Baghdad in the last few days. (SIGNED)
NEB/PM/GE/KBK
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