Iraq expelled five UN aid officials - four Nigerians and a Bosnian - for what it called an infringement of its national security, the United Nations reported Tuesday, quoted by agencies. Meanwhile, a UN arms inspection team said it was ready to work in Iraq in “a non-provocative manner.”
Reuters reported that UN officials protested the Iraqi expulsion orders, but withdrew the four Nigerians - three men and one woman - citing safety reasons. The fifth, a Bosnian woman, had already left the country before Iraq's expulsion order, delivered to UN officials Sunday in Baghdad.
Iraq's Foreign Affairs Ministry, in its note to the United Nations, said the five officials from the UN "oil-for-food" humanitarian program were "persona non grata" and should leave the country within 72 hours.
"They are not allowed to enter Iraqi territory. This is due to their performing of activities that infringe on the national security of the Republic of Iraq, which are inconsistent with their assigned responsibilities," said Baghdad's note, cited by Reuters.
The five staff members were described as senior UN officials in the oil-for-food program, under which Iraq sells oil and buys food, medicine and a variety of other goods under UN supervision.
The plan, instituted in December 1997, is aimed at easing the impact of sanctions on ordinary Iraqis.
UN WEAPONS INSPECTIONS TEAMS READY TO WORK IN IRAQ
Meanwhile, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) - which is mandated to carry out weapons inspection work in Iraq - is ready to work in the country if Baghdad provides the green light, according to a new report released Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York.
The new inspection attempts follow a series of scandals in which the Washington Post and lead inspectors alleged that the US had planted spies on previous missions.
The report of UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix says the commission "has reached a level of preparedness which would allow it to implement the mandate given to it in an independent, effective and non-provocative manner."
"The cooperation of Iraq with UNMOVIC, as demanded by the Security Council, would create the opportunity for it to build confidence, which no unilateral statements can provide, that it is fully complying with all relevant resolutions of the Security Council and thus opening the prospect of the lifting of sanctions," the report states.
Created by the Security Council in December 1999 to replace the former UN Special Commission (UNSCOM), UNMOVIC has yet to receive clearance to work in Iraq.
Baghdad maintains that it has fulfilled all requirements under the Council's "ceasefire" resolution - resolution 687 adopted in 1991 - concerning weapons of mass destruction, so there are no grounds for further inspections.
According to a March 1999 CNN report, Richard Butler, head of UNSCOM, refused to respond to a report in the Washington Post that "agents and eavesdropping equipment were brought into Iraq under cover of the UN program."
CNN's report said Butler's spokesman said UNSCOM personnel were not in a position to know whether the US spies used them as cover for other espionage activities.
The White House refused to confirm or deny the report that the United States planted spies in UNSCOM and carried out the infiltration for three years while keeping UN officials in the dark, according to CNN.
However, according to the network report, "knowledgeable sources confirm there was a US military intelligence operative - an engineer who repeatedly went into Iraq in 1995 and 1996 with a team using the cover of U.N. identity papers."
Morever, according to CNN, "a February 23 story in the New York Times citing galley proofs of a forthcoming book by former arms inspector Scott Ritter as saying he knew of CIA operatives being placed on UN inspection teams." – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
