ACCESSION NUMBER:00000

FILE ID:97030303.NNE

DATE:03/03/97

TITLE:03-03-97  NO CHANGE IN U.N. SANCTIONS ON IRAQ



TEXT:

(Review reveals no reason to end sanctions, Richardson says) (730)

By Judy Aita

USIA United Nations Correspondent



United Nations -- Pointing out that "Iraq continues to be a threat to

peace and security in the region," U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson

said March 3 that the more than six-year-old U.N. sanctions are being

continued against Iraq because Baghdad has still not met the

requirements of the Gulf war cease-fire demands.



Speaking with journalists after a private meeting of the Security

Council, Richardson said the session showed that "there should be no

congratulations to Iraq.... Getting Iraq to comply is like pulling

teeth from somebody who doesn't want to open his mouth. So, again,

sanctions are renewed for the 36th time."



After conducting a routine review of the Iraqi sanctions, the council

determined that there was no reason to change the wide-ranging

economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait in

1990. (Iraq is currently selling a limited amount of oil under the

council-approved and closely supervised "oil-for food" plan to pay for

much-needed humanitarian goods.)



Council President Zbigniew Wlosowicz of Poland told journalists

afterwards that members of the council also gave their full support

and expressed their appreciation for the work of Ambassador Rolf

Ekeus, the chairman, and the other members of the U.N. Special

Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraq weapons (UNSCOM).



Richardson pointed out that Iraqi officials continue to block UNSCOM's

work and it took two visits by Ekeus and an official Security Council

statement backing Ekeus to get a new measure of cooperation from Iraq

on missile verification.



"While Ekeus deserves enormous support, Iraq should not be

congratulated" on the latest agreement which will allow the U.N. to

take parts out of Iraq to determine whether they are actually

destroyed SCUD missiles as claimed by Baghdad, he said.



After briefing the council, Ekeus said that while the issue of the

U.N.'s shipping missile parts from Iraq for analysis has been settled,

"it was seriously delayed for more than three months.



"I don't think that's the way to do business," Ekeus said. "Even if we

welcome the progress, we are disappointed that it should take that

time."



"I feel that the Iraqi people are the fundamental victims of these

delays," he said. The U.N. proposed "a purely technical process" to

ship the missile engines in November but was delayed until Deputy

Prime Minister Tariq Aziz recently stepped in.



"We would by now have had a full picture of that part of the problem.

Now we have to wait ... these delays are unnecessary," he said.



Ekeus said Iraq is still refusing to give serious answers on

substantive questions in the area of missiles and chemical weapons,

especially answers to U.N. questions about the amount of chemical

weapons manufactured and Iraq's extensive program to conceal SCUD

missiles after the Gulf war.



"We are not totally convinced" of the accuracy of Iraq's answers "and

we want to assure ourselves," he said.



Several "stumbling blocks" remain, he said. "Iraq has to hand over

documentation about the secret destruction it has carried out. It has

to give us access to the personnel involved so we can interview them.

Iraq also has to hand over the remnants of its weapons capabilities."



"It's very, very simple and, in a sense, in the hands of Iraq," Ekeus

said.



Ekeus reported in mid-October that UNSCOM believes that "limited but

highly significant quantities" of banned missiles, and certain

high-quality chemical and biological warfare agents and related

programs are still being hidden by Iraq more than five years after the

cease-fire resolution, officially known as 687.



"The commission's information indicates that Iraq has still not told

the full story of its weapons programs and handed over all its

proscribed weapons materials and capabilities for final disposal,"

UNSCOM said.



Those issues of missile warheads and chemical weapons agents are still

a concern to UNSCOM, Ekeus reported March 3.



British Ambassador Sir John Weston also pointed out that the council

is still not satisfied on other sanctions issues such as Iraqi

accounting of missing persons and Kuwaiti property, especially the

contents of the national archives.



"We clearly have quite a long way to go" before ending sanctions, Sir

John said.

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