Concerned about a potential U.S. attack on Iraq, Kurdish leaders are trying to prepare for a retaliatory chemical or biological warfare attack from Iraqi forces, but they say other countries are ignoring their plight, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

“We have repeatedly approached the United Nations,” said Hoshyar Siwaili, undersecretary at the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s Ministry of Humanitarian Aid and Cooperation.  “But we got no response,” he said.

The KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan control the northern area of Iraq and are currently out of reach of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s armed forces.  The two groups are working together to form rescue teams, stockpile food, fuel and medicine, and distribute protective equipment for use in a chemical weapons attack, AFP reported.

Wealthier residents of the Kurdish enclave have said they will flee the area and Siwaili warned of a possible “humanitarian disaster” in the case of a war (Shamal Aqrawi, Agence France-Presse, Jan. 2).

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