Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=11/10/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-269089

TITLE=IRAQ / BRITAIN (L ONLY)

BYLINE=DALE GAVLAK

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A group of British activists opposed to U-N sanctions against Iraq has made a chartered flight from Britain to Iraq. Dale Gavlak in Cairo reports the flight, undertaken without the approval of the British government, marked the first time a plane has flown from Britain to Iraq since sanctions were imposed ten years ago.

TEXT: Led by George Galloway, a member of the British parliament and a long-time critic of the U-N sanctions against Iraq, the eight activists said they flew to Baghdad to show solidarity with Iraq. Mr. Galloway, a Scottish member of Britain's ruling Labour party, said "flights to Iraq are a positive and serious step to break the embargo imposed on the Iraqi people" by the United Nations.

The member of parliament said that his delegation does not accept that there are any U-N sanctions against passenger flights into Iraq, as the British and U-S governments maintain.

Mr. Galloway said that the only offense against British law committed by the groups was its failure to inform the Department of Trade and Industry of its flight plan. He said that he hopes the British government would not take action, but if it did, then the delegation would relish being able to make its case in court.

But the group will probably not face any legal action in Britain. A spokesman for the British Foreign Office said the government did not consider the flight a violation of the sanctions and therefore did not create any legal problems.

Iraq has been under U-N economic sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The U-N Security Council is divided on its interpretation of the air embargo and whether non-commercial flights need U-N authorization. The United States and Britain argue that such permission is necessary.

Russia and France first tested the air embargo this summer. Now, about 50 foreign planes have landed in Baghdad since Saddam International airport reopened on August 17th. (Signed)

NEB/DG/KL/JWH