Solidarity conference with the Iraqi people

A conference held in Baghdad in solidarity with the Iraqi people has condemned the continuous US-British bombardment against Iraq. The conference stressed Iraq's right to counter any violation to its airspace and national sovereignty.

The conference in which Arab, Western, African and Asian figures took part and concluded on Tuesday night, calling for halting the aggression, ending the siege imposed on Iraq and withdrawing the foreign fleets from the Arab Gulf region.

The conference announced rejection of the no-fly zones in the northern and southern parts of Iraq, viewing the imposition of such restrictions as an illegal and individual decision. The statement called upon the UN Security Council to lift the embargo imposed on Iraq and to put an end to the sufferings of the Iraqi people. It considered this embargo as a collective extermination campaign against humanity.

Meanwhile, Iraq on Tuesday officially asked the UN not to cut one third of its oil revenues to pay compensation to victims of the Gulf crisis. In a message sent by Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Iraq said: "The government of Iraq assures that the 40% according to which compensations are cut is unfair, and constitutes a violation of the human rights of the Iraqi citizens, especially their right to survive."

Al-Sahaf added the practical result of this cutting process is to make the Iraqi people poorer for long decades. Among the participants in the conference are Russian parliamentarian Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the wife of the leader of the French national front, and the representatives of the Communist parties and the Indian Congress Party.

The symposium denounced the US and British use of depleted uranium weapons during Gulf War in 1991.

Moreover, the symposium called on the British and US governments to uncover their information concerning the random and humanitarian effects of these weapons and places they store them as it said they form a threat to people and the environment.