France praises outgoing UN official's accuracy

The spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry yesterday praised the resigned coordinator of the UN humanitarian program in Iraq, Hans von Sponeck, saying, "Hans Von Sponeck's assessment of the humanitarian situation in Iraq corresponds exactly to the situation on the ground. Furthermore, it is consistent with what other observers have reported also. There have been the reports of independent experts from the humanitarian evaluation commission, reports from UNICEF and the Red Cross and other NGOs which concur. Even the British Parliament published a far more critical report last week on the system of sanctions in Iraq which, it charged, hurt the people and not at all the Iraqi regime."