IRAQ: FIRST US. HUMANITARIAN AID AIRLIFT TO DEFY 1991 UNITED NATIONS GULF WAR SANCTIONS ARRIVES IN BAGHDAD

Record ID: 338241

  • Title: IRAQ: FIRST US. HUMANITARIAN AID AIRLIFT TO DEFY 1991 UNITED NATIONS GULF WAR SANCTIONS ARRIVES IN BAGHDAD
  • Date: 13th January 2001
  • Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JANUARY 13, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (NIGHT SHOTS) 1. LV: PLANE WITH FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL RAMSY CLARK ON BOARD LANDS AT SADDAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT 0.06 2. SLV: EXTERIOR OF AIRPORT TERMINAL/SIGN 0.09 3. SV: FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL RAMSY CLARK DISEMBARKING FROM THE PLANE / BEING GREETED 0.26 4. M
  • Embargoed: 28th January 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA5KSWPRAOXOO72UA6CIYOJROUF
  • Story Text: An airlift of humanitarian aid, which organisers said
    was the first such American move to defy United Nations
    sanctions since the 1991 Gulf War, arrived in Baghdad on
    Saturday.


    Former U.S. attorney General Ramsy Clark arrived in
    Baghdad on Saturday (January 13), heading a 52-person
    delegation. He also brought with him Palestinians injured in
    clashes with Israeli troops. Clark's visit to Iraq is not the
    first one. He has already paid many visits to Baghdad to
    express solidarity with the Iraqi people over the issue of
    sanctions not having been lifted by the U.N. for a decade.

    Clark told reporters upon arrival, "It is much too long
    now, it has been criminal. It's been a crime against humanity
    for decade, unbelievable that that has happened. We have to
    have faith that it will end quickly, but we'll have to stuggle
    with all our might to see that if does end quickly."
    The so-called "Baghdad Airlift" is the first U.S civilian
    group to arrive Baghdad since the Gulf war with U.S.$ 150,000
    worth of humanitarian aid, especially medicine.

    "We came here, basically, to help the Iraqi children, and
    our goal is to bring medicine that we have. We have 150,000
    dollars worth, which is not enough for all Iraqi people, but
    our goal is to show that we want to help," said Doctor James
    Jennings, Conscience International's president.

    The delegation says one of the goals of the trip is to
    attract American people's attention to the suffering of the
    Iraqi people since sanctions were imposed.

    "We think the Americans are not sufficiently aware of the
    problems that they have caused by their policies in Iraq,
    especially to the health of the children and the mothers. The
    increase in death of the mothers is very much of concern to
    us," Jennings told Reuters.

    Iraqi doctors say they are desperately short of supplies
    after 10 years of U.N. imposed sanctions, which icreased
    malnutrition and devastated water and sanitation systems,
    raising
    people's susceptibility to disease.

    Baghdad says that more than one-and-a-half million Iraqis
    have died due to a shortage of medicine and food since the
    embargo was imposed. Diseases such as diarrhoea, pneumonia,
    respiratory problems and malnutrition are said to be the main
    causes of death, especially among children.

    At Saddam Children's Hospital in Baghdad, Sajeda Mohammad,
    a mother sitting next to her sick child, started to cry while
    saying, "Please, help me, assistance for the sake of Almighty
    God. An innocent child was deprived of playing, laughing and
    even speaking. Why?"
    The stringent embargo imposed following Iraq's 1990
    invasion of Kuwait, has ruined Iraq's infrastructure and
    lowered living standards.

    Hospitals in Iraq are said to be currently operating at 30
    per cent of normal capacity, because of the shortage of
    medical supplies. Many are forced to turn away all but the
    emergency cases.

    Humanitarian aid to Iraq has been gaining momentum during
    the last few months. Dozens of humanitarian flights have
    landed in Iraq since August last year.

    Under a special deal with the U.N., Baghdad is allowed to
    sell oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian needs
    for the Iraqi people.
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