United Nations, Monday
IRAQ'S deputy prime minister, Tareq Aziz, said today that no matter
what Baghdad did to comply with UN resolutions, the United States and
its allies would make sure sanctions remained in place.
Addressing a Security Council meeting he requested, Aziz blamed
President George Bush's administration for ''fabricating crises agains
Iraq''.
''No matter what Iraq does in fulfilment of obligations opposed upon
it, the unjust sentence passed by the council to starve the people of
Iraq . . . will remain in place simply because this is the will of
certain influential governments,'' Aziz said.
He said a recent US-inspired resolution seizing Iraq's frozen assets
abroad was tantamount to ''robbery''.
Aziz spoke after the council members had already launched a
pre-emptive displomatic strike, saying that Iraq had not met all
obligations under Gulf War resolutions and therefore sanctions imposed
after Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait would remain in place.
The minister said Iraqi children were suffering milk shortages and the
Iraqi population as a whole was experiencing ''dire shortages of food
and medicines,'' causing a 93% increase in the deaths of children under
five.
''To insist upon the embargo being imposed upon Iraq is to insist, in
actual terms, upon committing a crime of genocide against the people of
Iraq,'' Aziz said.
The council maintains that sanctions will not be changed until Iraq at
least honours two later resolutions demanding long-term compliance of
future potential arms industries.
Aziz maintained that the weapons have been totally destroyed.--Reuter.
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