Killing the Messenger 

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November 2, 1999

The US and UK are trying to get rid of UN humanitarian aid coordinator for
Iraq, Hans Von Sponeck, because he dares to speak the truth about the
devastating effects of sanctions on the people of Iraq. (see story below) 

This disturbing and revelaing article from the Financial Times makes it
clear what the US and British agenda is.

Yesterday I was shocked to hear Carol Bellamy, the director of UNICEF
which recently published a comprehensive report on child mortality in
Iraq, bending over backwards to explain away the chilling findings and to
excuse and rationalize the sanctions on Iraq. Bellamy was speaking  on
WBEZ's program Worldview, on November 1. You can hear the interview with
Bellamy yourself at www.wbez.org (click on Schedules and Program, then
Weekday Schedule, then Worldview, then Audio on Demand).

Obviously the pressure on UN officials to keep silent or tow the line is
immense. Let us hope that Von Sponeck has the principles, the stamina and
the support to keep speaking the truth.

Ali Abunimah
ahabunim@midway.uchicago.edu

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Financial Times, November 2, 1999

World News / International

US, Britain urge UN official in Iraq to quit 
By Roula Khalaf, Middle East Editor

The US and Britain are pressing for the dismissal of Hans Von Sponeck, the
United Nations humanitarian co-ordinator in Baghdad, according to
senior western diplomats.

The push to get rid of Mr Von Sponeck is driven by frustration with his
public statements on the debilitating effects of the nine-year-old UN
sanctions on Iraq.

But Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, who has suffered his own share
of criticism on his handling of Iraq from Washington and London, is
resisting.

He is believed to have told Mr Von Sponeck last weekend to stay in his job
for another year.

Senior western diplomats said yesterday the pressures being exercised on
Mr Von Sponeck were similar to the events that led his predecessor, Denis
Halliday, an Irish national, to leave the job in October 1998.

Mr Halliday quit the UN altogether and now campaigns for a lifting of
sanctions on Iraq.

The US and UK have followed a policy that aims to maintain the sanctions
on Iraq and to blame the effects of the embargo on the regime of President
Saddam Hussein. They consider that UN officials who speak out against
sanctions are playing into Mr Saddam's hands.

US and British officials maintain Iraqis are not receiving enough food and
medicine under the oil-for-food programme, which allows Iraq to sell
$5.3bn of oil every six months to buy humanitarian goods, because the
Iraqi government refuses to distribute the goods.

But Mr Von Sponeck, a German who oversees implementation of oil-for-food,
has spoken of the destruction of Iraqi society under sanctions.

He has pointed out that, of all goods received by the end of August under
the oil-for-food deal, 88.8 per cent had been distributed.

He has echoed concerns expressed recently by Mr Annan, who sent a letter
to the security council last week indirectly criticising the US for
holding up approval of hundreds of contracts for humanitarian goods under
oil-for-food.

At a time when the UN security council is deadlocked on policy towards
Iraq - and on whether sanctions should be lifted - Mr Von Sponeck has also
been arguing that the UN should consider sanctions relief separately from
disarmament issues.

Under UN resolutions, sanctions can only be lifted when Iraq is declared
free from weapons of mass destruction.

"I am not anti-UK or US or pro-Iraqi, I am for people," he said recently.
"What may have been a harmless deprivation in the first two years, nine
and a half years down the road has led to very serious cracks in the
social fabric."

He said it was his "honest conviction that you cannot deprive people from
their fundamental human rights. [Iraqis] have as much right for
employment, education and health as anyone else, but oil-for-food has at
best given them a minimum."

The US and UK also complained to the secretary-general last year about
Prakash Shah, Mr Annan's former envoy to Baghdad, after Mr Shah warned in
a press interview of the effects of sanctions on Iraqi society.

A diplomat said: "There was a feeling that Halliday had become a kind of
militant, and it was thought Von Sponeck, who is very calm, would be
different. But he too started to speak about sanctions."