BAGHDAD, 16 December 2002 — Iraq urged the United Nations to stop an “undeclared war” waged by US and British warplanes as Iraqi air defense facilities were bombed for the second straight day yesterday.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said allied planes based in neighboring Kuwait had violated Iraqi airspace on 1,141 occasions between Nov. 9 and Dec. 6.
“These daily violations...facilitated by the government of Kuwait, and the barbaric bombing of Iraq’s cities and villages, have reached the level of an undeclared war,” Sabri wrote. “The United Nations must take the necessary steps in line with the (UN) charter to halt the aggression.”
An Iraqi military spokesman said the planes had struck civilian installations in the southern provinces of Dhi Qar and Wasit. Iraqi anti-aircraft and missile batteries fired back.
The allied planes used precision-guided weapons to target an Iraqi mobile radar and cable repeater sites, the US Central Command said from MacDill Air Force base in Florida.
UN arms experts scoured two missile sites and a former nuclear research center and a chemical complex, all of them previously inspected, after searching a dozen locations the previous day in their busiest round of inspections so far.
Oil Minister Amir Muhammad Rashid said Iraq will cooperate fully with the inspectors to disprove US and British accusations that it still has weapons of mass destruction. Asked if Iraq would comply with a UN demand for a list of scientists associated with its weapons programs, Rashid said: “They will try many questions. We will deal with them. “The situation is unfolding. The whole public opinion will see how Iraq is wise, Iraq is truthful,” he said in an interview.
In London, opponents of President Saddam Hussein agreed a political blueprint for the country’s future, calling for a federal and tolerant Iraq in the event Saddam is ousted from power.
After two days of talks, around 330 delegates representing six opposition groups recognized by the United States have hammered out a final declaration for a post-Saddam Iraq. The final draft vows to refuse foreign guardianship and occupation of Iraq if Saddam is toppled.
It said Iraq’s new government should be a federal democracy and Islam should remain as the state religion.But the delegation is still debating the make-up of a 40-45 member leadership committee which could act as an interim administration.
The declaration also said that Iraq must be allowed to produce oil as much as its capacity permits.
Meanwhile, Russia’s biggest oil firm, LUKOIL, said that Moscow’s support for the Nov. 8 UN resolution had prompted Baghdad to scrap a $3.7 billion deal to develop a huge Iraqi oilfield. LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov told Reuters in Moscow he saw no US pressure behind the Iraqi decision to terminate the contract on the West Qurna field.
Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan sought to defuse the row, telling Moscow’s ambassador to Baghdad Vladimir Titorentko that Iraq was willing to go on cooperating with Russia. And the Iraqi ambassador to Moscow, Abbas Khalaf, downplayed the issue, saying Baghdad was convinced Russia would maintain its traditional support “and not change its policy for a few barrels of petrol.” (R)
