January 14, 2002. keralamonitor.com
UNICEF To Provide $400 Million For Development Projects in India. -ANNAN: First 2003 News Conference Focuses On Iraq, North Korea
IRAQ: Blix Warns Of War; Blair Says Another U.N. Text Is Unnecessary
Iraq must provide new evidence about its weapons of mass destruction activity or face the threat of war, U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission head Hans Blix told Associated Press yesterday.
Blix said U.N. inspectors working in Iraq under Security Council Resolution 1441 need months to finish the job but that a council decision to end inspections or a U.S. attack could prevent them from having the time. The world wants a peaceful resolution, he said, but Iraq must provide documents, allow inspectors to interview Iraqi scientists in private and provide physical evidence of destroyed facilities and weapons.
"We think they have more evidence," Blix said. "In the situation in which they find themselves, I think they should make a very strong effort to produce this."
Blix referred to the ongoing U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf in seeking to persuade Iraq to provide such evidence. "I think they only need look around their borders and they should realize the seriousness" of the situation," he said. "What the show of force demonstrates to Iraq is that here is the other alternative."
Peace would cost less than war, Blix added. "We are perhaps 250 or 300 people on the inspection side," he said. "We cost about $80 million a year. If you take the armed path, you are talking about $100 billion, you're talking about 250,000 men, you're talking about a lot of people killed and injured, a lot of damage. So I think the whole world prefers a peaceful solution if you can have one that is credible."
Following U.N. complaints that the United States and the United Kingdom were not providing inspectors with sufficient intelligence to back up claims that Iraq is pursuing banned weapons, U.N. officials cited by AP said that such intelligence has started coming in and more is expected. Blix said UNMOVIC is "getting much more information from several sources" (Edith Lederer, AP/Yahoo! News, Jan. 13).
BBC Online reports that Blix has said inspectors have found large quantities of illegally smuggled materials but have not determined whether they are related to weapons of mass destruction programs (BBC Online, Jan. 14). Inspectors today visited science and technology colleges in Baghdad (Hamza Hendawi, AP/Yahoo! News, Jan. 14).
On the question of taking Iraqi scientists abroad for interviews, an approach championed by the United States, Blix said there are no immediate plans for such interviews and stressed that UNMOVIC is not a "mechanism for defection" (Lederer, AP/Yahoo! News). The New York Times today cites U.S. and European officials familiar with the plan as saying U.S. President George W. Bush's administration expects the interviews to begin next week in Cyprus or at U.N. facilities in Europe (David Sanger, New York Times, Jan. 14).
Blair Says U.S., U.K. Could Act Outside U.N.
Following comments over the weekend by International Development Secretary Clare Short and other British officials stressing the need for any action on Iraq to be approved via the United Nations, Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday that Washington and London reserve the right to take action on their own if necessary.
"Whatever happens, [Iraqi President] Saddam [Hussein] will be disarmed," Blair said. He called for inspectors to be given the necessary time to do their work but said a failure by Hussein to cooperate with the inspectors would constitute a breach of Resolution 1441, leading to possible military action. He predicted a second Security Council resolution in the case of such a breach.
"The only qualification we have added ... is if you did have a breach, went back to the U.N., but someone put up an unreasonable or unilateral block down on action. In those circumstances, we have said we can't be in a position where we are confined in that way," Blair said. "The threat seems to some people to be remote, but I passionately believe we must disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction."
Blair said he fears that Iraq or a state like it could use weapons of mass destruction "and we get sucked into a conflict with all the devastation that would cause" and that, "alternatively, these weapons fall into the hands of these terrorist groups, these fanatics who will stop at absolutely nothing to cause death and destruction on a mass scale" (Webster/Watson, London Times, Jan. 14).
British Foreign Minister Jack Straw reiterated today that London would prefer a second Security Council resolution but could participate in military action without one if necessary (Agence France-Presse/Le Monde, Jan. 14, UN Wire translation)
January 14, 2002. keralamonitor.com
ANNAN: First 2003 News Conference Focuses On Iraq, North Korea
By Jim Wurst, UN Wire
UNITED NATIONS -- In his first news conference of the year, Secretary General Kofi Annan said today that the United Nations is "extremely worried" about the humanitarian consequences of a war in Iraq and is preparing contingency plans to aid the population of a postwar Iraq.
"We are worried that the consequences can be quite substantial and negative on the population," he said. "We are extremely worried about the humanitarian fallout and consequences of any such military action. Obviously we do not want to be caught unprepared, so we have gone ahead and made contingency plans."
"We focus mainly at this stage on the humanitarian aspects," he continued. "We are doing some preliminary thinking on the political and administrative areas. We have no definite thoughts and I would prefer not to be drawn into speculation at this stage," Annan said, adding that the United Nations has been in touch with governments that could provide funds "to move our preparedness to the next level."
He said the United Nations has had experience "in post-conflict situations or what some call 'nation building.' … We have some ideas for putting together post-conflict structures. Obviously, we are doing some thinking without assuming anything, but it would be prudent for us to look ahead."
He would not be drawn out on the question of military action against Iraq. "We are not at that stage yet," he said. "The inspectors are just getting up to full speed," he said, adding, "We should wait for the update that they will give to the [Security] Council" Jan. 27. Concerning Iraq's cooperation with the weapons inspectors, Annan said, "It's not perfect but it's better than it used to be." He added that the inspectors have said that "they would expect Iraq to be proactive in its cooperation."
"We have to assume that the members of the council acted in good faith [in adopting Security Council Resolution 1441], that the issue is disarmament and that they will do whatever it takes to disarm," Annan said. "If the disarmament were to succeed, and we would agree that Iraq has been stripped of its weapons of mass destruction, then that should be the end of the story. If on the other hand, it were to come out that Iraq continues to defy and disarmament has not happened, the council will have to face up to its responsibilities and take the necessary action. This is the understanding and the spirit of the resolution."
In addition, he said the threat of force by the United States has been helpful. "There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the pressure has been effective," Annan said. "Without that pressure, I don't think the inspectors would have been back in Iraq today."
In a briefing dominated by Iraq, Annan said, "We start the year with anxiety -- anxiety over the prospect of war in Iraq, over nuclear proliferation in the Korean peninsula, and over what seems like violence without end in the Middle East. ... The threat of global terror hangs over all of us. We don't know where or when it will strike next."
He said felt a diplomatic solution was possible for the North Korean controversy. "I think the signals coming from both the U.S. and Korea give me hope and encouragement that it will be possible, with determined effort, to find a diplomatic solution." Those signals included U.S. willingness to enter talks and that the North Koreans "are pulling back on their claim that they do have weapons of mass destruction." He said he was hopeful that inspectors will be allowed back into the country. "I'm also hoping that eventually they will rescind their pullout" from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, he said.
In his opening remarks, Annan also referred to non-military crises. "The worldwide AIDS epidemic will claim many more lives this year than even a war in Iraq would," Annan said. "In southern Africa and the Horn of Africa, as many as 30 million people face the threat of starvation this year. ... Meanwhile, climate change is already here. It is one of the reasons why we have so many storms, floods and droughts, causing more and more humanitarian emergencies and tragedies."
He also in his opening remarks singled out Zimbabwe and Venezuela as countries of "particular concern." The situation in Zimbabwe "is caused partly by the forces of nature, and partly by mismanagement. We could debate endlessly which of them made the greater contribution. But the challenge now is for all Zimbabweans to work together and with each other, and with the international community, to find solutions before it is too late."
On Venezuela, he said, "I hope those who seek to bring about change in Venezuela will … stick to democratic, constitutional means, in keeping with the principles of human rights and justice." President Hugo Chavez will be at the United Nations tomorrow.
January 14, 2002. keralamonitor.com
INDIA: UNICEF To Provide $400 Million For Development ProjectsUNICEF agreed yesterday to give $400 million to India to fund women and child development projects in the country, Xinhua News Agency reports.
The money, which will be used over the course of five years, will go to support joint Indian-UNICEF programs to reduce child and maternal mortality rates, to reduce child malnutrition, to improve protection against child labor and sexual abuse and to protect youth from HIV, according to Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi.
"This marks the consolidation of a dynamic partnership between the (Indian) government and the UNICEF. ... The outlay is the highest ever given by the UNICEF to any country," Joshi said.
Between 1999 and 2002, UNICEF allocated $300 million for programs in India. India's infant mortality rate has fallen from 80 per 1,000 births in 1990 to 68 per 1,000 births in 2000 (Xinhua, Jan. 14).
