>X-Authentication-Warning: beirut.leb.net: majordomo set sender to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] using -f > >=========Iraq Action Coalition ========http://iraqaction.org/ ======= > >U.N. official critical of Iraqi sanctions may leave job in April > >February 11, 2000 > >UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- The senior U.N. humanitarian coordinator in >Baghdad, who has run afoul of the United States and Britain, is expected >to leave his post in early April, sources at the United Nations said on >Friday. > >Hans von Sponeck, a German career U.N. official, has recently spoken out >more forcefully against 9-year-old sanctions imposed against Iraq and said >the U.N. oil-for-food program he heads was not meeting minimum >requirements to ease the impact of the embargoes. > >He will return to New York for consultations at the end of March and then >go back to Baghdad briefly before leaving his post, the sources said. > >U.N. spokesman John Mills refused to comment but said the New York visit >had been scheduled as early as last November. > >Asked about von Sponeck's expected departure, U.S. State Department >spokesman James Rubin said: "Good." > >"I think an article in the Iraqi press praising his approach to his work >is ample evidence of his unsuitability of this post," Rubin said. > >"His job is to work on behalf of Iraqi people and not the regime and we >look forward to an able manager who will maximize the benefits of the >oil-for-food programme," he added. > > On Friday, the Iraqi newspaper, al-Tharwa, said von Sponeck's analysis >was based on facts and figures. "He did not publish personal viewpoints >irrelevant to his job when he talked about the deterioration of the health >or food situation in Iraq," it said. > > Von Sponeck, was appointed to the post on Oct. 26, 1998, the fifth >humanitarian coordinator in Baghdad for the programme that allows Baghdad >to sell oil and purchase food, medicine and other goods under tight >supervision. > > In November, Secretary-General Kofi Annan extended his term to April 25 >rather than for a year as some expected but he refused to release him >immediately as Washington had wanted. > >Von Sponeck had been told at the time to curb his public statements. But >he resumed interviews with German and U.S. media this month, an indication >he planned to leave his job. > >His predecessor, Denis Halliday of Ireland, voiced similar criticism about >the impoverishment of ordinary Iraqis while the leadership grew rich under >the U.N. sanctions, imposed in August 1990 when Baghdad's troops invaded >Kuwait. > >U.S. officials last year accused von Sponeck of siding with Iraq in a >propaganda battle over who is to blame for the suffering of the Iraqi >people: the West, for imposing harsh economic sanctions, or Iraqi >President Saddam Hussein, for failing to comply with terms for lifting >those sanctions. > >Von Sponeck had also complained that the oil-for-food programme suffered >because of the holds placed on Iraqi imports. > >The United States has frozen 1,000 contracts, a situation criticized by >nearly all U.N. officials and diplomats. Britain runs a low second with >about 120 contracts on hold. > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
