Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=8/10/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CQ UN/KURDS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-318157

BYLINE=KERRY SHERIDAN

DATELINE=NEW YORK

///EDS: REISSUED. DELETES WORDS "TO IRBIL" AFTER KHADER ACT IN KURDISH.///

HEADLINE: UN Accuses Kurdish Authorities of Seizing Equipment in Iraq

INTRO: U.N. officials say Kurdish authorities in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil are seizing millions of dollars worth of U.N. assets, including automobiles and computer equipment. As Kerry Sheridan reports from New York, Kurdish leaders say the equipment was purchased with Iraqi oil revenue under the Saddam Hussein regime, and is part of an authorized transfer of assets from the United Nations to local authorities.

TEXT: The dispute over property began in June, after Kurdish authorities took possession of U.N. vehicles and office equipment. Many of the assets were left behind when U.N. staffers at offices in Basra, Irbil and Baghdad evacuated the country following a deadly bomb attack on U.N. headquarters last year.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told VOA's Kurdish service that the seizures have since expanded in scope.

/// HAQ ACT ///

"This is U.N. property and the U.N. does own this equipment. It's a very large amount of equipment, including 40 vehicles, several hundred communications items, computers, and so forth."

/// END ACT ///

Kurdish leaders deny that they are seizing U.N. assets.

They say Iraqi oil revenue paid for the equipment under a $36 billion dollar oil-for-food program that funded U.N. humanitarian programs throughout Iraq.

Kurdish spokesman Hosyar Abdurrahman Seewelee, from the Ministry of Humanitarian Aid in the Kurdish regional administration in Irbil, told VOA that U.N. officials authorized the transfer of assets last year.

/// SEEWELEE ACT IN KURDISH - EST AND FADE UNDER ///

He says the equipment transfer was part of an agreement between the United Nations, the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority and two Kurdish administrations in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Jameel Khader, a minister from the Kurdish administration in Sulemaniya, says the Secretary General has been misinformed, partly because the United Nations is managing its Iraqi operations out of a field office in Amman, Jordan.

/// KHADER ACT - IN KURDISH, EST AND FADE UNDER ///

He calls for the United Nations to send a delegation to investigate.

In the meantime, the U.N. spokesman, Mr. Haq, says the property dispute makes it difficult for U.N. workers to re-establish a presence there.

/// 2nd HAQ ACT ///

"In terms of return to places like Irbil, obviously the lack of assets, the seizure of our assets and vehicles, does hinder our efforts to

return, and we hope that this matter will be taken up by the local authorities and resolved."

/// END ACT ///

Officials say a small team of U.N. workers, headed by the new special envoy to Iraq, is currently on the way to Baghdad to help facilitate Iraqi elections. (Signed)

NEB/NYC/KS/KBK/MEM