A U.N. official has described the oil-for-food program as 'inadequate' to meet the needs of Iraq's people

October 27, 1999
Web posted at: 6:14 a.m. EDT (1014 GMT)

NEW YORK -- The United States is urging Iraqi opposition groups to "stand together on the world stage" at a meeting that begins Friday in New York, so Washington can help them overthrow President Saddam Hussein.

The U.S. plea for Iraq's opposition forces to unite came in a letter from U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering to seven Iraqi opposition leaders, which was dated Monday. Until they unite, there is little the United States can do to help, Pickering wrote.

The four-day New York meeting, known as an Iraqi Assembly, will bring together 300 to 400 delegates in the largest gathering of Iraqi opposition groups in years. Groups represented in the assembly include Kurds from northern Iraq, monarchists and Shiite Muslim groups aligned with the government of Iran.

The U.S. Congress has given the Clinton administration approval to provide up to $100 million in aid to the Iraqi opposition, but the White House has been reluctant to distribute the funds until the opposition becomes more organized.

The conference comes as the senior U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Baghdad, Germany's Hans von Sponeck, urged Security Council members to separate the issue of humanitarian relief for the people of Iraq from the difficult political issue of disarming the Iraqi military's ability to make nuclear or chemical weapons.

Von Sponeck, who runs the United Nations' "oil-for-food" relief program for Iraq, advocates ending the nine-year-old U.N. sanctions imposed against Iraq after it invaded Kuwait. He spoke at a news conference in New York on Tuesday.

"One should try to delink the humanitarian discussion from the disarmament discussion," von Sponeck said.

"And if you do that, maybe you can introduce a longer-term vision into this whole business of how 23 million Iraqis are being treated."

Von Sponeck argued that the oil-for-food program -- which allows Iraq to sell $5.26 billion worth of oil every six months to buy food medicine and other supplies -- "is not adequate" and leaves ordinary Iraqis impoverished.

He echoed criticism by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Security Council members had increased the number of "holds" on contracts for goods Baghdad wanted to purchase. The United States and Britain are responsible for most of the delays for 572 contracts that are awaiting approval.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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