ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept. 22-French Flight To Iraq Causes Row.
A private plane carrying doctors and sports personalities, direct
from Paris, lands at Baghdad International Airport Baghdad International Airport (IATA: SDA, ICAO: ORBI) (Arabic: مطار بغداد الدولي; formerly Saddam International Airport . The flight triggers
a diplomatic row at the UN, which had requested to have the flight
departure delayed. (The flight is to fight against an intolerable
situation which condemns an innocent population to a slow agony.) 3
permanent members of the UN Security Council are in dispute over the
flight. Britain and the US say that the French are violating UN
sanctions against Iraq by not giving enough notice of the flight.
However, France maintains that it is not trying to erode Erode (ĕrōd`), city (1991 urban agglomeration pop. 361,755), Tamil Nadu state, S India, on the Kaveri River. The city is located in a cotton-growing region, and its industries include cotton ginning and the manufacture of transport equipment. sanctions, but
merely interpreting UN resolutions in a more liberal way than Washington
and London. The flight is arranged by a private French group opposed to
the international sanctions International sanctions are actions taken by countries against others for political reasons, either unilaterally or multilaterally.
There are three types of sanctions. - Diplomatic sanctions - the reduction or removal of diplomatic ties, such as embassies.
imposed after Iraq's invasion of
Kuwait The Invasion of Kuwait, also known as the Iraq-Kuwait War, was a major conflict between the Republic of Iraq and the State of Kuwait which resulted in the 7 month long Iraqi occupation of Kuwait[4] . A 2nd French group has announced plans for another flight on
Sept. 29. Its organiser, Father Jean-Marie Benjamin The Rev. Jean-Marie Benjamin is a priest who once worked as an assistant to the Vatican secretary of state and became an activist for lifting Iraqi sanctions prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. , says it is "to
fight against an intolerable situation which condemns an innocent
population to a slow agony". (During last week Russia flew a
passenger flight to Iraq carrying humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity. and a number of oil
executives. But it gave the UN sanctions committee a few days notice,
enabling other countries to decide whether they wanted to raise any
objections.) France gives the committee only a few hours' notice,
arguing that it did not need the UN's approval as the flight is not
commercial. Reports say the row over flights raises questions about the
future of the sanctions now that such prominent countries appear
increasingly willing to test the embargo's limits. (Iraq re-opened
its international airport in August to receive international flights
despite the sanctions.) In a separate development, Russia, France and
Tunisia propose a reduction of the amount of compensation Iraq pays to
Gulf war victims from 30% to 20% in order to allow more funds for
humanitarian goods. (The proposal comes as the UN Security Council
discusses the latest UN report on the oil-for-food programme The Oil-for-Food Programme, established by the United Nations in 1995 (under UN Security Council Resolution 986) and terminated in late 2003, was intended to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs for ordinary Iraqi that allows
Iraq to buy humanitarian goods to counter the effect of sanctions.)
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