>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: "International"<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >Iraq Sanctions Challenge >39 West 14th St., #206 >New York, NY 10011 >Voice: 212-633-6646 >Fax: 212-633-2889 >Web page: www.iacenter.org >e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Contact: Deirdre Sinnott, > Kenneth MacLeish >(212) 633-6646 >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > >NOMINATION OF ROLF EKEUS AIMS TO CONTINUE A REGIME OF >SANCTIONS, BOMBING AND REPRESSION > >January 18, 2000 � Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told >delegates of the Iraq Sanctions Challenge that he thought >that the nomination of Swedish Ambassador Rolf Ekeus was >�suggestive and provocative.� > >The Iraq Sanctions Challenge (ISC) is a group of 60 >delegates from the U.S., Japan, Italy, Britain and >several other countries who are defying the U.S./UN >sanctions to bring much needed medical aid to Iraq. > >Sara Flounders, Co-director of the ISC said, �The Ekeus >appointment indicates the U.S.�s desire to escalate >pressure on Iraq and, by proposing an obviously >objectionable candidate, to continue a regime of >sanctions, bombing and repression.� > >The U.S./UN sanctions have been in place for more than >nine years and have killed over one million Iraqis, >according to UN figures. > >Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the head of >the ISC, said, �The sanctions are genocide. They weaken >and permanently debilitate the strongest of a society and >kill the weakest and most vulnerable.� He added that �the >�Oil for Food� deal is simply a slower means of >strangulation over a longer period of time. Any extension >of the sanctions is unacceptable.� > >The ISC delegation delivered their shipment of $2 million >worth of medicines to Iraq�s Ministry of Health and >visited a hospital. From the delegates� observations and >conversations with the Iraqi people, it is clear that the >U.S./UN �Oil for Food� deal has done little to mitigate >the suffering brought on by the sanctions and the >continued bombing. > >Dr. Abdul Razzak Al-Hashimi of the Association of >Friendship, Peace and Solidarity hosted the ISC >delegation. He told delegates that of the $18 billion in >oil that Iraq has been allowed to sell since 1996, only >$5.9 billion have been approved for contracts of >humanitarian supplies. A number of the contracts have >been held up by the United States. Dr. Al-Hashimi >reminded the delegates that this once prosperous country >is being artificially and deliberately manipulated into >conditions of poverty and degradation. > >Delegates met with Minister of Health Dr. Omeed Medhet. >�The �Oil for Food� deal has done practically nothing to >relieve the sanctions stranglehold on the Iraqi >healthcare system,� said Dr. Medhet. Iraq�s healthcare >system was considered the best in the Middle East prior >to the Gulf War. Now the morbidity rate, the rate of >infectious diseases, is extremely high in Iraq, and >tuberculosis in particular is on the rise. > >�Patients suffer and die in hospitals because there are >no spare parts to repair damaged equipment, including >such basic things as air conditioning,� said Dr. Medhet. >The UN committee poses a serious hurdle for Iraqi >doctors� efforts to obtain basic medical supplies, >according to Dr. Medhet. He said the committee had >approved anaesthetic for surgery but would not allow the >post-operative drugs needed to revive surgical patients. > >The ISC delegation witnessed these effects first-hand at >an Iraqi hospital, the Saddam Center for Children. In a >leukemia ward, Dr. Mazin Shimari told delegates that Iraq >has a zero percent cure rate for leukemia, a fatal but >curable type of cancer, because of the sanctions (the >cure rate in the U.S. is seventy percent.) The ward was >filled with children who had no chance for survival >because of the lack of medical supplies�they will all be >dead within a few weeks. An entire generation of Iraqi >children is growing up underweight and short in stature >because of malnutrition and the lack of adequate medical >care, and the hospital was filled with these too-small, >too-short children. > >The delegation is spending five days in Iraq. Yesterday >they visited the Amariyah shelter, a bunker destroyed by >U.S. bombs during the Gulf War, killing over a thousand >Iraqi civilians who had sought shelter inside. They also >met with union and business leaders, who have all >suffered as a result of the sanctions: ninety-five >percent of industrial production has ceased, and there is >sixty percent unemployment among workers who enjoyed some >of the best labor laws in the Middle East. > >The ISC will return to New York, JFK Airport on January >21. > >For more information on the ISC and the UN sanctions, >please visit our Website at www.iacenter.org > >--30-- > > >------- End of forwarded message ------- __________________________________ 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] ___________________________________
