Iraq Asks U.N. to Ease Hardships, Lift Sanctions
Iraq urged the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to lift economic sanctions against Baghdad, saying they are causing widespread hardship to civilians.
Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz, who met U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in Geneva, said they discussed Security Council resolutions covering weapons as well as the oil embargo.
The two men, in separate statements, described the 75-minute meeting as “frank and constructive,” and each called for improved relations between Iraq and the United Nations.
Aziz said he and Boutros-Ghali agreed to meet again, but no date or place was given.
Aziz said that Iraq’s delegation to talks in New York on long-term monitoring of Baghdad’s weapons’ potential will do its best to make the discussions “successful.”
“Iraq has fulfilled most of the essential points of its obligations according to U.N. Security Council resolutions, mainly Resolution 687,” Aziz told reporters.
Resolution 687 of April, 1991, is the main Gulf War cease-fire resolution under which Baghdad is compelled to give up weapons of mass destruction and the means to produce them.
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