Exode (des Kurdes d'Irak) - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIE\\..BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RlVISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
tionsalIran's 56rè~camps~'
Background Role for U.S.
A Bush Administration official said
today that the United States was play-
.lng only a background role in assist.
lnceto Iran because it believed that
European nations with established,
,relations with Teheran could assist.
Kurdish refugees more efficiently and.
quickly than could the United States.
The United States is indirectly contributing
to the Iranian reUef effort by.
donating money to the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees and.
to the International Red Cross. The"
White House said today that it recently',
sent an additional $9 million to those
'oraanizations, which assist refugees in
Iran, Turkey and Iraq. -
. The prospects for direct American:
iBid to Iran rest on the Air Foree's
ianàlysis of the first relief ntaht, which:
!landed in Teheran on Satui'day with':
31,125 pOunds of blankets donated by:
!private relief agencies, said a State 08-'
iP8rtment official, who SpOkeon condi.
tion of anonymity. ' .
, He said 'that night appeared to have.
[lone well, but that Its crew had yet to.
ipreparea formal repOrt. Exchanges of..
[messages with Iran about .future:
[American assistance, routed through;
~Swlssintermediaries in Teheran, have,:
;gone smoothly, he said. .
" The International Committee of the
iRed Cross repOrted last week that it'
pad sent 8,000 tons of suppU. to Iran,
'and was providing 80 tons food clally for
:refugees. The Red Cross also is esta~ .
Ushing camps in Iran for 200,000refugees
who are still homeless.
: Last weekend, the European Com.
munity pledged $170 million in reUef to
.the Kurds, $119 million of it dedicated
;to Iran. Germany, Belgium and
'Canada have mounted larae relief ef.
forts, and private oraantzatlons in '
~France and the United States have sent'
food, medicine and teams of doctors to
Iranian camps. An Americares official;
;Steve Norman, estimated today thai'
Ithe group has sent 226tons of medicine
and food to Iran in five airlifts.
: By comparison, the United State$'
and other allied governments have sent
10,000tons of supplies to Turkey in thé.
last 23 days, the State Department'
said. .
AsseSsments Difficult
Outsid.fefforts to assess the dimen~ .
sions of.the refugee crisis in Iran are
!lll the .more difficult because Iran has
110 accurate accounting of the numberS:
~fKurds who have become sick or died
~uring or after their Dight from Iraq. ';
.. Dr. Reed said that his clinic at a'
camp of 20,000 refugees, treated al'
,least 309 patients dally for diarrhea"
pneumonia, urinary tract infeCtion~
iand other Ilinesses related to eXpOsure;
and poor sanitation. At least one per~
son, usually a cl1ßd, diedat the camp
each clay, he said, and other seriously~
illpatients were sent to local hospit81s(
But he said that the Bakan camp a~
peared to be among the better-organ:~
ized in the area; aild that those KurdS'
who survived tbe trek from Iraqto th",
camps were among the hardiest of thq;
refugees. Camps of similar size hav,li:
repOrted as many as 10 deaths anc;l
more titan a thousand Illnesses daily.
Iraq Asserts Its-'Weakening
Will Mean a Stronger Iran:,
By PAUL.LEWIS
SpeciailO The New York Tlmils
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 29 - With satisfied with "the policies arid pra~.i'
United Nations sanctions still in place tices of the Government of Iraq," ;.a'c,
two months after the end of the Persian phrase that could mean almost. al1'.Y';l;'
Gulf war, senior Iraqi officials say the thing. . ;....
West should be concerned that Bagh. While Iraq has begun complying with ,
dad's weakening economic and mili. the Security Council's plans JO destroy
tary pOsition wilTshift the regional bal. its most dangerous weapo~;,;tt is stiD
ance in favor of Iran. .
unclear how much of its future oUin.'.
"Iran is more pragmatic in dealing come the Council will earmark fot
with the outside world now, but its re- compensation payments. .>ti ..... "...
~.gional .pOwer aspirations have not Britain has suggested thattJ\i~ figulj
. changed," a senior Foreign Ministry should be based on Iraq's pastmilitary .
. official said. spending, which by some estimätes has
Still, the internal changes that Iraq run as high as 26 percent of thé gross:
needs to make to i~prove relations national product. ':,
with the West are certain to be resisted At the Foreign Ministry, officials ex-
. '.by many in the ruling Baath Party, offl- pect the figure to be in the 15'to;20pet,
etals here say. . cent range and stress the sizable finan~'
The party will find it difficult politically
to be open toward Israel, cooperate
with American efforts in the region
and soften its traditional militant pan- Baghdad focuses
Arabism, which. casts Iraq. as the
champion of poor' Arabs against the °
richgulfsheikdoms.' , on wInning the
.Signs of Reappraisal i removal of t' he
And there is widespread recognit,ton . ,
among Iraqi policy makers that the U N sa to :"
United States and its allies .are UnUk! ° ° nc IOnS
to be satisfied with anything short of a
explicit commitment by the leadershi .
to a new and more cooperative af)'. '. .
proach to Middle Eastern issues. cial burden that will place on a coun~ry ,
This has not come about. But there that already has $80 billion in foreign
are signs that Iraq's leadershif is reap- debts. . . .
praising its policies in light 0 the gulf .But a weakened Iraq, off~clals argue,
war and the high priority it places on w1l11eave Iran as the dommant pOwer
getting United Nations economic sanc- in the region and give Baghdad a new
tions lifted. . . interest in cooperative approaches to
President Saddam Hussein's deci- security questions.
sion last month to surrender the Prime Syria CoolinS to Soviets
Minister's pOst and give it to Saadun. .
Hamadi an American-educated Shiite SYria, in the Iraqi view, accurately.'
Muslim' was widely seen as an effort to read the international scene, deciding.
.give the Government a .more prag- that its alliance with the S9viet Union,
matic Image and distance it from his was becoming less valuable and that it
presidency. needed more finanelài help from the
, At his first news conference as oil-producing gulf states. ,
Prime Minister last week Mr. Hamadi Iran, however, remains committed
.. said a debate was under way in the to extending its influence over Iraq's'
Baathist leadership over the country's southern Shiite district in the view of',
course. And he stressed thathis pri- Iraqi officials here. As the American
ority was tà comply full with the Se- armed forces pull out of the south;
curity Council's terms for easing the there is concern here that Iran will .
sanctions.
again push for influence in that region.
" . "Iranhas changed on economic mat-
Dependen~on U.N. Council ters and in dealing with the West," a'.
That not only means' surrendering senior Iraqi' official said. "But on re-'.
Iraq's weapOns of mass. destruction gional questions it is still playing the:,
and paying' compensation to Kuwait, same game, trying to eXpOrtrevolutoO::
)lut alS9 accepting the prospect of a to Iraq." ,
long military embargo that will further Internally, .Iraqi officials hope that)
weaken Iraq's armed forces. the Government's commitment te)'
'Even the restoration of normal civil•. pOlitical reform this year will also help'
iàn trade with the' outside 'world de- its relations with the West and s~'
pends on the Securit}' Council's bein .the liftin,~o! s~ncti9\'1s.'
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