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Security Council UN Humanitarian Chief for Iraq
CNN Interactive
Quits in Frustration
February 14, 2000
United Nations - The top UN humanitarian official for Iraq resigned in frustration over continuing international sanctions Monday as police arrested dozens of protesters outside the US delegation's offices in New York. Hans von Sponeck, an outspoken critic of the 9-year-old economic sanctions against Iraq, will leave his post at the end of March. He said the humanitarian oil-for-food program he heads could not meet the minimum requirements of Iraq's 22 million people. "I feel someone has to come here with more optimism than I have in thinking that the period ahead will bring relief for the humanitarian situation in this country," he told CNN.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Monday he accepted von Sponeck's resignation "with regret." The United States had pushed for von Sponeck's removal, saying he was too soft on the Iraqi government. Annan recently extended von Sponeck's position until April 25, despite pressure from the United States and Britain to replace him. The United States renewed its criticism last week, after von Sponeck said in a CNN interview that the sanctions imposed on Iraq were a "human tragedy" about which he could not remain silent.
The Secretary General urged Iraq to cooperate with Security Council resolutions passed since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, that order the nation to destroy its weapons of mass destruction, "so that the sanctions will be lifted." "We will continue to implement the humanitarian program, and we will do our best to make it as effective as possible in order to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people," Annan said during a visit to Jakarta, Indonesia.
US insists sanctions must stay
A native of Germany and a career UN official, von Sponeck was appointed humanitarian coordinator in September 1998. He said he resigned because he had lost hope for an improvement in conditions for the Iraqi people.
Von Sponeck replaced Denis Halliday, who also opposed sanctions against Iraq. US officials last year accused him of siding with Iraq in a propaganda war over who was to blame for the suffering of Iraqis.
A 1999 UNICEF report found that infant mortality rates in Iraq had more than doubled due to the sanctions, but also criticized Iraq for not speeding aid to its people. US officials say the sanctions have to stay in place until Iraq complies with the international disarmament resolutions. "If they don't cooperate, it's very simple," US State Department spokesman James Rubin said. "The sanctions will stay on."
Police arrest 86 demonstrators
Shortly after von Sponeck's resignation was announced Monday, New York police arrested 86 people on charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing during a demonstration Monday against US support of economic sanctions against Iraq, police said. "Nine years later, the war is continuing, sanctions are still on, and atrocities continue," activist Sean Donahue said. "Two hundred fifty people die daily as a result of sanctions."
More than 200 people began the protest on the steps of the US mission to the United Nations. After dozens were arrested, the rest of the demonstrators were moved off the steps and continued to block the sidewalk outside the building.
The sanctions were meant to force Iraqi cooperation with UN disarmament officials while Iraq dismantled its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs after the Gulf War. At the time, observers expected the sanctions to last six months.
Iraq said von Sponeck's resignation shows that the US and Britain were bent on maintaining the "unjust" sanctions. "It sheds more light on the aggressive policy of the United States against Iraq ... in inflicting harm on the Iraqi people contrary to all international norms and charters," the official Iraqi news agency INA said in a commentary.
More Information on Iraq Sanctions
