Aziz: Iraq does not seek confrontation with UN
Iraq-UN, Politics, 11/2/1998

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said that his country does not seek a confrontation with the UN by halting the work of the international weapons inspection team.

Aziz repeated Iraq's demand for the removal of UNSCOM chief Richard Butler and called for the lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Baghdad.

Aziz stated that his country may back away from a halt of cooperation with UNSCOM inspectors if the Security Council takes positive steps toward lifting the sanctions from Iraq. Iraq had repeatedly requested a comprehensive review of progress made so far in United Nation's effort to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

Today US President Bill Clinton commented about the Iraqi situation saying "complete cooperation with the weapons inspectors" is required.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart also said today that the president had met with his national security team and that no decisions were made beyond sending the US Secretary of Defense to Europe and the region.

Meanwhile, Nabil Negm, Iraq's permanent delegate at the Arab League, stated after discussions he held AL Secretary-General Esmat Abdul Meguid Iraq's adherence to its resolution to stop dealing with UNSCOM, saying that Iraq did its best and cooperated with Security Council resolutions, especially resolution 687, yet the US insists on actions against the Iraqi people by insisting on maintaining economic sanctions, which means the deliberate slow death of the Iraqi people who have been suffering from the sanctions for eight years.

Iraq's delegate at the Arab League called for immediate procedures to lift the sanctions from Iraq.

The UN Security Council is due to deal with this issue this week.

Previous Stories:
  Iraq halts UNSCOM cooperation   (10/31/1998)
  UNSCOM report questions Iraq on chemical weapons   (10/27/1998)
  Aziz: UN sanctions on Iraq prove to be a failure   (10/19/1998)

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