DATE=8/12/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-S / IRAQI CHILDREN (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-252741
BYLINE=KYLE KING
DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  U-S officials say they are concerned about a 
U-N report that indicates Iraqi children are dying at 
twice the rate they did before 1990.  But State 
Department officials say the Iraqi government is to 
blame for the increase, and not economic sanctions 
against the Iraqi government.  VOA's Kyle King 
reports.

TEXT:  The Director of the U-N Children's Fund says 
international sanctions against Iraq and the 
government in Baghdad are both to blame for the rise 
in infant mortality.

The U-N study, which was released Wednesday, found 
infant mortality in central and southern Iraq had 
doubled since 1990 (the year Baghdad invaded Kuwait, 
touching off the Gulf war and subsequent U-N economic 
sanctions).

UNICEF director Carol Bellamy says the international 
community can not just assume that the U-N oil-for-
food program in Iraq will solve the problem.   Under 
the oil-for-food program Iraq is allowed to sell more 
than five billion dollars in oil every six months to 
buy food and medicine.

The U-S State Department says it is concerned about 
infant mortality but accuses the Baghdad government of 
mishandling the oil-for-food program in Central and 
Southern Iraq.

State Department spokesman James Rubin noted that 
infant mortality rates have dropped in Northern Iraq 
where the oil-for-food program is administered by the 
international community.

            // Rubin Act //

      The bottom line is that if Saddam Hussein would 
      not continue to hoard medicine and capabilities 
      to assist the children of Iraq we wouldn't have 
      this problem.  So clearly, the blame for the 
      suffering of the Iraqi people falls squarely on 
      the shoulders of its tyrannical leader.


            // end act //

In addition to allegations that the Iraqi government 
has been hoarding medicines and stockpiling supplies 
from the oil-for-food program, U-N officials accuse 
the government of aggravating the problems in other 
ways.  One example cited by the U-N is the 
government's policy of encouraging bottle feeding of 
infants, a practice that needlessly exposes them to 
contaminated water.

U-N officials say the international community needs to 
do more ease the impact of economic sanctions on 
children and can not rely solely on the oil-for-food 
program.  U-S officials say if the program was 
administered properly there would be less suffering. 
(signed)

NEB/KBK/PT



12-Aug-1999 16:48 PM LOC (12-Aug-1999 2048 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.