Sick Iraqi girl headed for help

December 28, 1997
Web posted at: 2:42 p.m. EST (1942 GMT)

Amal Saeed and her father

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A 5-year-old Iraqi girl who was expected to die from a genetic disorder will get medical help in Amsterdam, thanks to an Icelandic charity.

Thor Magnusson, an Icelandic peace activist, accompanied Amal Saeed and her parents to the Netherlands on Sunday, after obtaining exit visas for the family.

"I cannot believe it that my daughter's life will be saved," said Amal's mother, Taleea'iha Saeed.

Amal suffers from a genetic disorder and protein deficiency that have left her belly and legs grossly swollen. The sickness already has killed her two siblings. Her parents have sold their business and most other possessions to raise money to help her.

CNN's Peter Arnett brings us up to date.

But Iraqi doctors told the family her case was hopeless, because they did not have the medicine or the facilities to treat her.

Amal's family contacted CNN about her condition, and CNN's Peter Arnett did a story on her plight earlier this week. It is not clear if that report brought Amal to the attention of the Icelandic delegation that arrived in Iraq on Friday, carrying gifts, food and medicine to a children's hospital in Baghdad.

The Saeeds -- and Santa Claus -- board the plane to Amsterdam.

'The sanctions are not human'

Magnusson, founder of the Icelandic charity Peace 2000 Institute, said Amal's illness exemplifies "what the sanctions have been doing to the people of Iraq."

"The sanctions are not human. It is a genocide against the people of Iraq. the sanctions must stop," he said.

The sanctions -- which among other things bar Iraq from selling oil, its economic cornerstone -- were imposed by the international community following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The United Nations has said they cannot be lifted until U.N. weapons inspectors can certify that Iraq is not harboring weapons of mass destruction.

The U.N. and the United States say Baghdad is responsible for Iraq's shattered economy, because Saddam Hussein's government has kept the arms inspectors from finishing their work by refusing to give them full access to all potential weapons sites.

A delegation of Egyptians arrives in Iraq with donated supplies and toys

Iraq claims the sanctions are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children from malnutrition.

Meanwhile on Sunday, an Egyptian delegation arrived in Baghdad with aid. Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine and 29 celebrities made a 12-hour road trip from Jordan to bring toys, school supplies, and $30,000 worth of medicine that had been donated by Egyptian businesses and pharmacists.

The delegation plans to stay a week.

Correspondent Peter Arnett, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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