DATE=9/23/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=UN/IRAQ (L)
NUMBER=2-254278
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=



VOICED AT:


INTRO:  Foreign Ministers from the five permanent 
members of the United Nations Security Council have 
been meeting in New York to decide how to get weapons 
inspectors back into Iraq and under what conditions.  
At the United Nations, Correspondent Nick Simeone 
reports the five powers are still unable to agree on 
the substance of a resolution.


TEXT:  The foreign ministers issued a statement saying 
they want to find a way forward on Iraq and that their 
governments will keep working to resolve differences 
over the sanctions issue.  But a senior U-S official 
tells reporters substantial disagreement remains over 
the substance of a resolution, with Russia and China 
feeling that U-N sanctions in force for a decade no 
longer serve much of a purpose.  

The United States and Britain want sanctions 
maintained until the United Nations certifies Baghdad 
has been stripped of all of its suspected weapons of 
mass destruction.  To do that, U-N weapons inspectors 
need to get back on the job.  They were pulled out of 
Iraq in December after repeatedly being blocked by the 
Baghdad government.

Members of the opposition Iraqi National Congress have 
been in New York all week to lobby Security Council 
members to lift the cap on oil sales as long as all of 
the proceeds go toward helping the Iraqi people, not 
the Iraqi government.  Spokesman Sharif Al-Hussein:

            /// AL-HUSSEIN ACT ///

      We are hoping to meet with the Chinese, the 
      Russians and the French and we would put forward 
      to them our case.  And we are convinced that 
      also they are aware of the suffering of the 
      Iraqi people.  It is just what is the best way 
      to achieve this (relief).  

            /// END ACT ///

The United States and Britain maintain President 
Saddam Hussein is denying the Iraqi people food and 
medicine purchased through oil sales and that he, 
rather than sanctions, is responsible for their 
suffering. (Signed) 

NEB/NJS/TVM/gm



23-Sep-1999 19:29 PM EDT (23-Sep-1999 2329 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.