|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Iraq: Officials Question Legality of U.S. “Regime Change” Policy Iraq has asked the United Nations to rule on whether U.S. intentions to facilitate a “regime change” in Iraq — meaning the removal of Saddam Hussein as Iraqi president — are in violation of international law, according to reports today (see GSN, March 20). Iraqi representatives included the question in a list of 20 questions to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan during talks March 7, according to Reuters (see GSN, March 8). Annan sent the list to U.N. Security Council members Monday and asked for their responses in preparation for a mid-April meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri al-Hadithi (Reuters/New York Times, March 21). The second round of U.N.-Iraq talks is expected to take place around April 18, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said yesterday. Questions Some of Iraq’s questions submitted to the United Nations were technical, but “other issues raised by the Iraqis were conditions, not questions,” said a U.S. official. Iraq asked how long U.N. weapons inspections would last if Iraq allows inspectors to return after their 1998 departure. They also asked whether inspectors could verify that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed, which countries inspectors would come from, how U.S. and British inspectors could be neutral and whether the United Nations could guarantee that inspectors would not be spies (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, March 20). In addition, the Iraqis also asked whether Iraq would receive compensation for damage from U.S. and British bombing to enforce no-fly zones (Reuters/New York Times). In the questions, Iraq did not reject the return of weapons inspectors but indicated it would only accept inspections with a limited time period and some type of assurance that they would lead to the end of sanctions, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, March 14). No Conditions The United States and some other Western countries have said inspections must be unconditional (Lederer, Associated Press/Yahoo.com). “The Iraqi questions pose unacceptable conditions, and Iraq must unconditionally admit the entry of U.N. inspectors and give them free and unfettered access,” said a U.S. official (Reuters/New York Times). “This is just an attempt by the Iraqis to open up a dialogue with the Security Council ... which we’re not willing to get engaged in. There’s no need for dialogue. The Iraqis know exactly what they need to do,” said a U.S. official, according to the Associated Press. One Year The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission could recommend the Security Council suspend sanctions against Iraq within one year of returning inspectors to the country if Iraq actively cooperates with inspectors, said UNMOVIC Chairman Hans Blix. Blix said he would fire any inspectors spying for a government. Iraq, however, should not have the authority to decide the composition of the inspection teams, he added (Lederer, Associated Press/Yahoo.com). Russia Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Tuesday that Russia opposes any military action against Iraq that does not have U.N. approval (see GSN, Feb. 11). “Russia is against any attack on a country, be it Iraq or any other country, which bypasses the U.N. Security Council,” Ivanov said. “We have no evidence, no factual evidence, to support the statement that Iraq has, or may have, weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons (see GSN, March 7). Nobody has ever provided this evidence to us. If anybody has this evidence, they should present it to the international community,” Ivanov added (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/European Internet Network, March 20). Call for End of Sanctions Meanwhile, two former U.N. humanitarian coordinators who resigned from the United Nations in protest of sanctions against Iraq placed an advertisement in yesterday’s International Herald Tribune calling for an end to sanctions, Agence France-Presse reported. Former U.N. officials Denis Halliday and Hans van Sponeck gathered signatures for the advertisement from several world leaders and intellectuals, including U.S. professor Noam Chomsky, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov and British playwright Harold Pinter. “We, the undersigned, representing a wide international consensus, demand the immediate lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq,” the advertisement said, describing the sanctions as “a violation of internationally recognized human rights and humanitarian standards.” The signers also said a U.S. proposal to revise U.N. sanctions to allow more goods exported to Iraq while tightening controls over potential military goods is “a grim perpetuation of a failed policy” (Agence France-Presse/Jordan Times, March 21).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
