KM March 18, 2003

Iraq: Expulsions of Kirkuk Region Minorities Continue

Iraq: Expulsions of Kirkuk Region Minorities Continue High Risk of Violence When Displaced Families Attempt to Return to Oil-Rich Area

IRAQ: U.S., U.K., Spain Abandon Vote; Annan Orders U.N. Staff To Leave

The United States, the United Kingdom and Spain this morning took a major step toward launching war against Iraq, saying they would no longer seek a vote on their faltering resolution at the Security Council and declaring that they "reserve the right to take their own steps to secure the disarmament of Iraq," according to British Ambassador to the United Nations Jeremy Greenstock.Before the ambassadors of the three countries entered a closed Security Council session this morning on Iraq, Greenstock announced, "We have had to conclude that council consensus will not be possible," adding that the three countries would therefore not seek a vote on the draft resolution.

"One country in particular has underlined its intention to veto a resolution no matter what the circumstances," Greenstock said, referring to France without naming the country. France, which supports more time for weapons inspections rather than an attack on Iraq, has repeatedly said it would veto the resolution if a vote was called (CNN.com, March 17).French President Jacques Chirac said in a CBS 60 Minutes interview broadcast yesterday that Paris "will naturally go to the end" with its refusal to back an Iraq war. He proposed giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 30 more days to comply with U.N. disarmament resolutions, an offer U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney dismissed as "further delaying tactics" (Bob Kemper, Chicago Tribune, March 17).

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte today said nearly 4½ months have passed since the council unanimously passed Resolution 1441, which declared Iraq in "material breach" of its obligations under previous resolutions to disarm. "The government of Iraq has clearly failed to comply," Negroponte said. "Through acts of omission as well as commission, Iraq is in further material breach." Negroponte added that "the vote would have been close" but that "in the face of an explicit threat to veto, the vote-counting became a secondary consideration."

When asked if he believed the three countries would have received the needed nine votes from among the 15 council members to pass their resolution, Greenstock said that the threat of a veto affected the framework of discussion about the resolution.U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the withdrawn resolution "was not a resolution we believed was necessary" but was "one last step" to see if Hussein would disarm. "The United Nations is an important institution, and it will survive," Powell said, "but clearly, this was a test the Security Council did not meet." He added that Hussein was able to "thumb his nose" at Resolution 1441.

A couple of hours after the U.S.-British-Spanish announcement, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that he was withdrawing U.N. weapons inspectors and aid workers from Iraq. "We will find a way" to resume aid to the country, Annan said. "The council will have to give me a mandate to continue activities in Iraq," Annan said, adding that pulling out U.N. staff does not mean the end of U.N. operations in Iraq. Syrian U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said withdrawing weapons inspectors from Iraq has "a very dangerous implication -- it means there are no more inspections."

Wehbe also confirmed to reporters that a ministerial meeting on the Iraq crisis is scheduled for Wednesday (Angela Stephens, UN Wire, March 17).ElBaradei said today that Washington advised him last night to "pull out our inspectors from Baghdad." U.N. officials said the inspectors and support staff could be evacuated from Iraq in as little as 48 hours. The IAEA said it would wait for Security Council advice today before deciding whether to pull out. U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission Executive Chairman Hans Blix said UNMOVIC inspectors will continue their work in Iraq "unless we call them back."Most of the inspectors' helicopters have already left Iraq after their insurance was canceled (William Kole, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, March 17).U.N. Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission employees began pulling out of the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border zone today after their alert status was increased to level 4, which entails ceasing all operations (CNN.com, March 17).

German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said his country, France and Russia, which have tried to block the U.S.-British-Spanish move toward war on Iraq, "share the goal of the international community to disarm Iraq" and do not see a need to halt weapons inspections that he said are showing signs of succeeding. He said the three countries are trying to "make a last-ditch effort" to avoid war.Pleuger also said Blix is ready to give us the council his program of work this afternoon (Stephens, UN Wire).

Meanwhile, Hussein said today that Iraq previously had weapons of mass destruction for defensive purposes but no longer has any (AP/Yahoo News, March 17).Today's action from the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain came after their leaders agreed yesterday at a summit in Portugal's Azores islands that today would be, in the words of U.S. President George W. Bush, "a moment of truth for the world" as it seeks to "determine whether or not diplomacy can work" to defuse the Iraq crisis.

Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said they would launch a last-ditch push to convince other U.N. Security Council members to support their resolution to authorize an attack against Iraq. Bush said the resolution could be withdrawn and invasion planning could begin, though, if the three countries do not appear to have the nine council votes needed for passage of the resolution or if France maintains its threat to veto the measure.

"What we cannot have is a situation where we simply go back for endless discussion," Blair said after the meeting. "Now is the time when we have to decide" (Kemper, Chicago Tribune).

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the three leaders said that "if [Iraqi President] Saddam [Hussein] refuses even now to cooperate fully with the United Nations," they "would undertake a solemn obligation to help the Iraqi people build a new Iraq at peace with itself and its neighbors," supporting "the Iraqi people's aspirations for a representative government that upholds human rights and the rule of law as cornerstones of democracy."

The three said they "plan to work in close partnership with international institutions, including the United Nations, our allies and partners and bilateral donors," adding, "If conflict occurs, we plan to seek the adoption, on an urgent basis, of new United Nations Security Council resolutions that would affirm Iraq's territorial integrity, ensure rapid delivery of humanitarian relief and endorse an appropriate post-conflict administration for Iraq. We will also propose that the secretary general be given authority, on an interim basis, to ensure that the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people continue to be met through the oil-for-food program" (White House release, March 16).

The Wall Street Journal reports today, however, that a Bush plan to rebuild Iraq, according to confidential documents, would leave U.N. agencies and other multilateral bodies on the sidelines (Neil King, Wall Street Journal, March 17).In a second statement, Bush, Blair and Aznar affirmed their "commitment to trans-Atlantic solidarity" (White House release II, March 16).

Blix said yesterday that the Azores summit yielded a "slightly divided" message. "President Bush seems to be talking mainly about how to liberate Iraq and make sure they have no weapons left there," he said, but Blair and Aznar "are giving more weight to having a last chance to unite the world" (sky.com, March 16).

Hussein said yesterday that Iraq will fight "wherever there is land, sky or water" if it is attacked (Hamza Hendawi, AP/Yahoo! News, March 17). On Saturday, Iraq invited Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei to come to Baghdad "at the earliest suitable date" to discuss outstanding disarmament concerns (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, March 16).

Niger Embassy In Italy Reportedly Forged Documents For U.S.

Someone in Niger's embassy in Rome probably produced forged documents that Washington used to bolster its case against Iraq, a source close to a U.N. investigation into the matter told the Chicago Tribune. The documents indicate that Niger agreed to give Iraq uranium that could be used to produce nuclear weapons. IAEA officials found discrepancies in the documents that led them to believe they were faked.

An IAEA spokeswoman said the agency does not blame the United States or the United Kingdom in the affair. "We believe it was given to us in good faith," she said. "It doesn't seem that it was fabricated by British or American intelligence agencies in order to make a case." U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week, "It was the information that we had. We provided it. If that information is inaccurate, fine" (Sam Roe, Chicago Tribune, March 16).

Senator Jay Rockefeller, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Friday asked the FBI to investigate whether the United States was involved in creating the forgeries.

Other U.S. claims have also been questioned in recent weeks, including charges that Iraq has aluminum tubes for a nuclear program, drones that could deliver chemical or biological weapons, mobile biological laboratories and chemical bunkers (Donnelly/Neuffer, Boston Globe, March 16).

Bush administration officials and members of Congress cited in yesterday's Washington Post said U.S. intelligence agencies have been unable to give legislators or the Defense Department specific information about the amounts of banned weapons Iraq may have or where the weapons may be hidden. One official cited a "lack of hard facts," while another said the administration has offered "only circumstantial evidence" (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, March 16).

UNHCR Says Iraqis Constitute Largest Group Of Asylum Seekers

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday that Iraqis last year constituted the largest group of asylum seekers in the world, replacing Afghans.The agency said 51,000 Iraqis applied for asylum in 37 industrialized countries last year. The figure exceeds the 2001 number by only 600 asylum seekers, but a sharp drop in Afghan asylum seekers, from 52,800 in 2001 to 25,700 last year, left Iraqis at the top of the list (UNHCR release, March 14).

Refugees International wrote U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan Friday to call on him to "make UNHCR the lead agency for I DPs [internally displaced persons] in Iraq" (Refugees International release, March 14).

Iraq: Expulsions of Kirkuk Region Minorities Continue

Iraq: Expulsions of Kirkuk Region Minorities Continue
High Risk of Violence When Displaced Families Attempt to Return to
Oil-Rich Area

(Washington, March 14, 2003) – Iraq’s practice of expelling Kurds,
Turkomans, and Assyrians in the oil-rich regions of Kirkuk and turning
their property over to Arab families from the south continues, Human
Rights Watch said today.

In a new report documenting this ongoing practice, Human Rights Watch
said there is an urgent need for Iraq, or in the event of war the
occupying powers, to establish a mechanism that will permit the orderly
return of more than 120,000 persons forced out of their homes since
1991. Human Rights Watch said this was essential to head off ethnic
violence should displaced families attempt to return to the area.

“Iraq has used systematic intimidation, harassment, and discrimination
to make the lives of Kirkuk’s minorities intolerable,” said Joe Stork,
Washington director of the Middle East and North Africa division of
Human Rights Watch. “The government’s clear intent is to ‘Arabize’ this
key oil-producing region by force and repression.”

The report, based on interviews conducted in September 2002 with
recently displaced families, details policies that include:
· forcing minorities to “correct” their ethnic identity,
· compelling them to join supposedly “volunteer” paramilitary forces
such as the Popular Army and Saddam’s Martyrs, and
· seizing the land of farming families without prior notice or
compensation.

“Some of the more valuable properties were presented as ‘gifts’ to high
Ba`th Party officials,” Stork said, “ while most was distributed to Arab
families enticed to move into the area.”

Human Rights Watch said that the systematic forced and arbitrary
transfer of populations is a crime against humanity under international
law, and urged that those responsible be brought to justice.

“Iraq operates a bureaucracy of expulsion, complete with formal
expulsion orders and deportation centers,” Stork said. “This report
documents a crime against humanity that the government continues today.”