-Caveat Lector-
>From Reuters
Sunday January 10 10:16 AM ET
Saudi Proposes Easing Of Iraqi Sanctions - Papers
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to propose an initiative to lift U.N.
sanctions on the import of food and medical supplies by Iraq, Saudi
newspapers said Sunday.
They said Riyadh would present the initiative to other Gulf Arab foreign
ministers meeting in Jeddah Sunday and would seek Arab and international
support.
Journalists in the Saudi capital Riyadh said the initiative was revealed at
a briefing by a top-ranking government official to editors of Saudi
newspapers Saturday.
The papers quoted a senior Saudi source for their identical reports. They
said Saudi King Fahd had ordered the initiative.
The official said the initiative ``aims at lifting the suffering of the
Iraqi people by adopting Security Council resolutions allowing for the
import of humanitarian goods from food to medicine and educational tools,''
the newspapers said.
``Why should the issue of rice in Iraq be linked to the approval of an
employee in Geneva? There should be no restrictions on the entry of
humanitarian goods to Iraq,'' the official was quoted as saying.
One of the newspapers, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat, quoted the
official as saying the initiative would include seeking an end to
restrictions on the sale of Iraqi oil even at the expense of the interests
of Saudi Arabia -- the world's largest oil producer and exporter.
The other newspapers did not mention the oil issue.
Iraq has been regularly exporting around 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd)
of oil in recent months under the U.N. oil-for-food scheme which allows
Baghdad to sell up to $5.265 billion worth of oil every six months.
Iraq is reeling under the trade and economic sanctions over its 1990
invasion of Kuwait. It is allowed to purchase limited humanitarian goods
and medicine under the oil-for-food deal.
The foreign ministers of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, the United
Arab Emirates and Kuwait are meeting in Jeddah to coordinate their stand on
Iraq ahead of a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on January 24.
The official said the initiative would be presented to the United Nations
as well as to the Arab foreign ministers.
He said Saudi Arabia would not ask for the lifting of sanctions on the
imports of weapons or any military equipment.
It would however ask the United Nations to be impartial in dealing with the
sanctions, especially weapons inspections, an apparent reference to reports
of U.S. efforts to use U.N. weapons inspectors for its own intelligence
purposes.
News reports, which U.S. officials have privately acknowledged, say
Washington, under cover of the United Nations, installed eavesdropping
devices in March that allowed it to intercept communications used by the
Iraqi military and intelligence officers who protect Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein.
The Saudi official said Saudi Arabia, launch pad for the 1991 U.S.-led push
that ended Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, did not see military strikes as the
solution to the Iraqi problem.
He said a call Tuesday by Saddam on Arabs to topple their leaders would not
stop Riyadh from launching its initiative aimed at helping the people and
not the Iraqi regime.
The Gulf Arab states have distanced themselves from last month's U.S. and
British military strikes on Iraq. Some criticised the attacks, but all
blamed Saddam's failure to cooperate with the United Nations.
NOW, FROM THE BBC
Sunday, January 10, 1999 Published at 14:27 GMT
<Picture>
<Picture>
Iraq accuses Kuwait and Saudi of treachery
<Picture>
Iraqi deputies: More rhetoric than influence
<Picture>
The Iraqi National Assembly has voted to suspend all co-operation with the
United Nations and has declared it holds Saudi Arabia and Kuwait fully
responsible for the consequences of last month's air attacks by the United
States and the United Kingdom.
<Picture><Picture>The BBC's John McIntyre: Iraq sees the Kuwaitis and
Saudis as traitorsIn a resolution passed after two days of discussion, the
parliament accused both countries of being traitors to the Arab nation.
However, it stopped short of demanding that the two countries be punished,
as some MPs had urged.
<Picture: [ image: Iraqi resolve appears to be strengthening]>Iraqi resolve
appears to be strengtheningCorrespondents say the vaguely worded resolution
was something of an anticlimax after two days of bellicose threats from
MPs.
The draft resolution technically now has to go to the Revolutionary Council
and President Saddam Hussein for ratification.
The BBC's correspondent in Baghdad, Humphrey Hawksley, says the result of
the special session were not unexpected, but it shows Iraqi resolve is
strengthening rather than weakening a month after the wave of strikes.
Our correspondent says the tone of MPs' speeches swung between that of Iraq
the victim and then of Iraq the defiant Arab nation.
MPs were clearly frustrated at the continued trade sanctions which have
blighted the country for eight years.
They told the National Assembly that children were dying because they do
not have sufficient food or medical care.
Resolutions by the Iraqi National Assembly have in the past presaged an
escalation in the conflict with the UN Security Council. Previously MPs led
the way, in public at least, in the suspension of co-operation with UN arms
inspectors.
Ominous message to Kuwait
MPs echoed official statements throwing doubt on Iraqi acceptance of the
demarcation of the border with Kuwait, which Iraq invaded in 1990.
In the Iraqi press, Tariq Aziz described the creation of Kuwait under
British colonial rule as an amputation.
<Picture: [ image: Mubarak: Repeatedly criticised Saddam Hussein]>Mubarak:
Repeatedly criticised Saddam Hussein"Kuwait was an entity created by
Britain to weaken Iraq and deprive it of its historic coasts," he wrote in
Ath-Thawra.
Meanwhile, 10 Arab countries have agreed to attend a ministerial conference
this month expected to discuss calls for a summit on Iraq.
A league spokesman said no specific agenda had been set but Bahrain, Egypt,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen have all said
they will attend the meeting.
The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has responded to Iraqi criticism of
Arab countries by accusing Saddam Hussein of incitement to provoke a new
round of air strikes against Iraq.
"He imagines that demonstrators have taken to the streets around the Arab
world in support of him, and fails to realise that they are actually
showing their sympathy for the suffering of their Iraqi brothers," he told
the Egyptian paper Al-Gumhuriya.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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