Iraq Agrees to Let U.N. Help Kurdish, Shiite Refugees : Diplomacy: The program appears to conflict with the allied relief effort. It has all the marks of a rival operation.

As American soldiers surveyed sites for Western-sponsored refugee camps in northern Iraq, the Baghdad government Thursday announced that it had signed an agreement with U.N. officials to provide international aid to Kurdish and Shiite Muslim refugees within Iraq.

The Baghdad agreement was signed by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, a special envoy of U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, according to the official Iraqi News Agency. Disclosure of its details raised the specter of political conflict with the allied operation along the Turkish and Iranian borders.

The text of the agreement, released at U.N. headquarters, made no mention at all of President Bush’s military relief plan and displayed all the hallmarks of a rival operation. In the last couple of days, U.N. officials have not hidden their annoyance at Bush for dispatching American soldiers into northern Iraq without either the approval of Iraq or the aegis of the United Nations.

The U.N. plan differs from that of Bush in several key points: It covers refugees along all borders of Iraq, not just Turkey; it has the approval of Iraq; it proclaims the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of Iraq; and it provides for administration by U.N. officials, not allied soldiers or even U.N. peacekeeping troops, the so-called Blue Helmets.

Iraq’s deputy prime minister, Tarik Aziz, on Thursday reiterated his country’s displeasure over the allied operation, under which American troops, without Iraqi permission, plan to set up a network of camps to house and care for Kurdish refugees on Iraqi territory near the Turkish border.

“We refuse this (the Western plan),” Aziz told reporters in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. “They have no right to send troops to our territory. . . . The interference of the big powers in this business has complicated the situation.”

Clearly, President Saddam Hussein’s regime would prefer to deal directly with the United Nations on ostensibly humanitarian grounds, a course that would free its territory of foreign troops. But Baghdad was not consulted on the Western operation.

Just as the last units of American troops were leaving southern Iraq following the humbling defeat of Hussein’s army in Kuwait, others, along with French and British troops, began crossing the border in the north Wednesday to provide armed sanctuary on Iraqi soil for more than a million Kurds who fled Hussein’s guns when their rebellion collapsed late last month.

Although Americans officials were surprised that the Iraqi-U.N. agreement was signed so quickly, a U.S. diplomat at U.N. headquarters insisted “there’s no conflict and no problem.”

“It’s completely in accord as a follow-on to what we are trying to do,” he said. The diplomat said Bush had acted only because the United Nations was not ready to do so. “In two or three weeks,” the diplomat predicted, “the Americans would be out, and the U.N. would be ready to take their place.”

“We would not expect them (the Iraqi government) to interfere with this operation as we move into this refugee camp phase,” Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

The next day in Baghdad, Prince Sadruddin also tried to calm the waters, saying, “We all hope that it (the Western program in the north) is going to be a humanitarian operation that is not going to last too long and that it will dovetail with U.N. operations in this country.”

Under the accord signed in Baghdad, U.N. representatives, working with Iraqi officials, will establish an unspecified number of aid centers across the country. Sadruddin said work will begin within days once the accord is approved by Perez de Cuellar.

“People are dying,” he told reporters. “Women and children are hungry. The elderly and handicapped are particularly vulnerable.”

The scope of the problem, how ever, raises the question of how soon the United Nations can provide needed supplies. The demand for food, tents, and medicines for the Kurds alone under the Western operation is overwhelming.

The aims of the U.N. program-- set to last at least until the end of the year--are to provide food and medical care to refugees and persuade them to return home, which in effect would end the rebellion but again place Kurds and Shiites under the guns of Hussein’s army and security services.

Meanwhile, in Iran, President Hashemi Rafsanjani was quoted as saying his government will care for Iraqi refugees who have crossed the frontier until it is safe for them to return home. The Islamic Republic News Agency, which reported Rafsanjani’s remark, also said fighting was continuing in southern Iraq between Shiite rebels and Hussein’s army.

In other developments:

The Pentagon said more than 5,600 U.S. military personnel and 50 helicopters are involved in the relief operation on the Iraqi-Turkish border. Ultimately, more than 10,000 American troops, 5,000 British marines and 1,000 French forces will be involved in building and operating the camps, officials said.

U.S. diplomats have been in behind-the-scenes negotiations over ways the United States might aid Iran with its part of the refugee crisis, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Using the Swiss as intermediaries, Iranian representatives “have indicated that they would welcome U.S. participation in the international relief effort to assist refugees in Iran,” Boucher said.

Williams reported from Nicosia and Meisler from the United Nations. Times staff writers John M. Broder and David Lauter also contributed to this article.

IRAQ RELIEF PLAN

Highlights of Thursday’s U.N. agreement with Iraq to set up refugee relief centers: Iraq welcomes U.N. efforts to promote the voluntary return of displaced persons and to take humanitarian measures to avert new flows of refugees.

The U.N. may set up humanitarian centers, known as UNHUCs, throughout Iraq.

Each UNHUC will be staffed by U.N. civilians and may include other groups, such as the Red Cross.

Aid will include food, medical care, agricultural rehabilitation and shelter.

Routes of return, with relay stations along the way, will be set up in cooperation with Iraqi authorities to provide food, shelter and basic health care to civilians going back to their homes. U.N. staff will accompany such groups as required.

Priority will be given to areas close to Iraqi borders with neighboring countries. The U.N. may, in agreement with the Iraqi government, organize airlifts of relief goods from and through neighboring countries.

All Iraqi officials concerned, including the military, will facilitate the safe passage of emergency relief aid.

Iraq will establish, with the U.N., a relief distribution and monitoring structure to permit access to all civilians covered by the program.

A U.N. coordinator will implement the program.

A U.N. radio communications system will be set up to cover requirements within Iraq and outside countries.

Implementation shall be without prejudice to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and security of Iraq.

The agreement shall end Dec. 31, 1991.

-- Source: Reuters