(16 Jan 1999) Arabic/Nat
Hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad on Saturday to mark the end of the Gulf War and to demonstrate against continued United Nations sanctions.
The crowd burned American flags and chanted slogans calling for the end of crippling sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War.
Meanwhile Iraqi newspapers carried headlines condemning sanctions and praising the latest calls by Russia to abolish UNSCOM, the U-N Special Commission responsible for the disarmament of Iraq.
About 500 Iraqis marched through the streets of central Baghdad in a show of support for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The crowd held banners and placards denouncing United Nations sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The crowd applauded ranks of Iraqi officials in military uniform and shouted their support for their president.
A member of Saddam's ruling Ba'ath party the addressed the rally.
He poured scorn on December's air strikes by U-S and British forces and rejected the continued imposition of sanctions by the West.
SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)
"The American initiative is wicked and has mean aims. Therefore it is completely rejected."
SUPER CAPTION: Lattif Noussaif Jassin, Member of ruling Ba'ath party
The Iraqi president was not at the rally, but his influence was everywhere.
Sensing discord within the United Nations on how to deal with the deepening humanitarian crisis in Iraq, he has flatly rejected an offer from Washington on relieving the sanctions.
It suggested the council allow Iraq to export as much oil as it can - as
long as the proceeds are used to buy food and medicine for Iraqis.
Saddam was represented at the demonstration by his cousin Ali Hassan Al-Majid.
But it is the people, rather than Saddam's circle who are suffering the effects of the U-N embargo on international trade with Iraq.
The American offer had come as a surprise, considering Washington's hard-line approach to Baghdad.
But it still has its problems - Baghdad, for example, can't pump enough oil to reach the maximum amount authorised under the U-N oil-for-food program.
That program allows Iraq to export limited amounts of oil - 5 point 2 (b) billion U-S dollars over six months - to buy humanitarian goods for
the Iraqi people.
But depressed oil prices and aging machinery have meant Iraq has been able to export just 60 percent of that amount in the second half of 1998.
The U-S has made efforts to boost exports, notably by allowing the release of contracts it had held up to repair Iraq's oil infrastructure.
But the Iraqi regime has rejected the offer in the hopes of securing a complete end to the embargo.
Another key issue is that of weapons inspections.
The United States and Britain are intent on implementing original U-N resolutions requiring inspectors to certify that Iraq has destroyed all its banned weapons.
But the U-N Security Council is split with France and Russia proposing a less intrusive monitoring system that would prevent Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from acquiring new weapons of mass destruction.
China, the other permanent Security Council member is expected to back Iraq's two other sympathisers on the council.
The debate was the main story in Iraqi newspapers on Saturday.
France opened the debate with a call to lift the embargo altogether, but with controls to make sure Baghdad doesn't use the money to rebuild its weapons programs.
Russia suggested a similar scenario.
Both have economic interests in having the embargo lifted.
But Baghdad has rejected any proposals that didn't lift all sanctions.
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