wfn.org | MECC Statement on Iraq, Feb. 4, 1998

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

Middle East Council of Churches
Contact: Peter E. Makari
Coordinator for Interpretation and International Linkage
The Middle East Council of Churches
P.O. Box 4259
3722 Limassol, CYPRUS
Tel: +357 (0)5 326-022 or 326-235 or 326-246
Fax: +357 (0)5 324-496
direct e-mail: peter_makari@spidernet.com.cy

Middle East Council of Churches Statement on Iraq

        The world's attention has been focused upon two parallel efforts
in the Gulf region: the buildup of military strength, largely by the United
States and United Kingdom, accompanied by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright's tour of European and Middle Eastern capitals to explain the
United States' position and to rally support for it; and concurrent intense
diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict with Iraq through negotiated
means, primarily by Russia, France, Turkey, and some Middle Eastern states.
        The MECC reaffirms its position calling upon all parties involved
to actively and wholeheartedly seek a negotiated solution based on
diplomacy and not violence, peace and not war.
        A consequence of the threatened military strike has been emergency
preparations in Jordan for an expected flood of refugees.  The Jordanian
government has begun to equip shelters on the Jordanian-Iraqi border region
for just that purpose.  This third wave of displaced people has already
begun to add to the large number of uprooted and hopeless people who fled
from central and southern Iraq during the two Gulf Wars.  The MECC is
preparing to become involved in relief if such a wave of migration occurs.
        While a negotiated solution is desired, neither a diplomatic nor a
military option draws sufficient attention to the desperate human suffering
the people of Iraq face as a result of the economic sanctions that have
been imposed since the end of the Second Gulf War (1991).  On February 2,
the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, delivered a report
to the Security Council in which he recommended an increase in the
"oil-for-food" deal from $2 billion to $5.2 billion every six months.  This
increase includes a one-time expenditure for rehabilitating necessary
infrastructure, such as sewage and water treatment plants, and hospitals
whose conditions have deteriorated to inoperable levels as a result of the
sanctions.
        The UN Secretary General's report rightly makes a clear distinction
between the current crisis of the Iraqi government's ongoing refusal to
allow UNSCOM inspectors access to certain sites and the suffering of the
people.  Unfortunately, the sanctions that were imposed to coerce the Iraqi
government to comply with the cease-fire agreement have, in seven years,
done nothing to change Iraqi policy or mobilize the people to change the
government.  In fact, the opposite effect can be noticed: a greater
nationalistic feeling and sense that the West (particularly the US and UK)
are unjustly punishing Iraq.  Malnutrition, previously unseen diseases, a
marked lack of medicine and food supplies, the unavailability of spare
parts to repair cars, ambulances, water sanitation plants, and other
necessary machinery, and a general feeling of hopelessness prevail among
the general population.  The MECC therefore calls upon the international
community to lift the economic sanctions against Iraq.
        The MECC, in cooperation with Action by Churches Together (ACT),
has launched a new appeal to help provide humanitarian relief to the Iraqi
people.  The appeal is for more than $2 million in cash and
materials-in-kind to help relieve some of the suffering.  The people of
Iraq live in tragic conditions as a result of unjust and unjustifiable
sanctions.  Extreme suffering among civilians-mostly the children,
elderly, and sick-abounds.  The MECC has been involved in the provision of
humanitarian aid since 1991.  Its endeavors have saved the lives of
numerous children through the provision of food and nutritional relief, and
the sick and elderly by the distribution of medicine and medical supplies
to hospitals and medical clinics.
        While recognizing the potential threat of nuclear and biological
weapons, and other weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq may possess, it
is also known that other states in the region and throughout the world
possess such weapons, yet are not subjected to sanctions.  The MECC does
not condone the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, but calls for
a consistent international standard for the prevention of such
proliferation, and rejects the hypocritical stance which singles out Iraq.
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