http://washingtonpost.com./wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/03/110l-110399-idx.html
U.N. Chief Extends Controversial Humanitarian
Official's Term in Iraq
By Colum Lynch
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, November 3, 1999; Page A28
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 2-Despite strenuous objections from the
United States and Britain, Secretary General Kofi Annan today
extended the term of the U.N.'s chief humanitarian relief
official in Iraq for another year.
U.S. officials have accused the official, Hans von Sponeck,
of siding with Iraq in a propaganda battle over who is to
blame for the suffering of the Iraqi people: the West, for
imposing harsh economic sanctions, or Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein, for failing to comply with the terms for lifting
those sanctions.
State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said von
Sponeck, a career U.N. official from Germany, has
exceeded his authority by publicly criticizing the
Security Council's sanctions policy and by investigating
civilian casualties from U.S.-British bombing raids in
Iraq's "no fly" zones.
Rubin also charged that von Sponeck allowed the Iraqi
government to fill warehouses with food and medicine that
should have been distributed to the Iraqi people under the
terms of the U.N.'s "oil for food" program, which allows
Iraq to sell $5.2 billion of oil every six months to meet
humanitarian needs.
"We do not have confidence in his leadership of this
effort," Rubin said. "Mr. von Sponeck has undermined the
role of the humanitarian coordinator in Iraq."
Fred Eckhard, Annan's chief spokesman, said the
secretary-general believes that anyone serving in such a
sensitive job inevitably will offend the United States,
Britain or other countries. Eckhard said von Sponeck's
predecessor, Denis J. Halliday of Ireland, ran
afoul of the United States and his eventual successor
probably will, too.
"It kind of comes with the territory," Eckhard said.
Annan nevertheless has asked von Sponeck to meet with U.S.
and British officials to "clear up any misunderstanding that
might have arisen," Eckhard said, adding that the U.N. chief
"wants von Sponeck to continue in this job."
Rubin's unusually sharp public criticism of von
Sponeck comes as the United States and Britain continue
to wrestle with Russia, France and other countries
that favor lifting the economic sanctions if U.N.
weapons inspectors are allowed to return to Iraq.
Last week, Washington and London rejected a
recommendation by the secretary general to allow
Iraq to spend an additional $300 million on repairs to
oil production facilities. And on Monday, Undersecretary
of State Thomas Pickering pledged U.S. support for
Iraqi opposition leaders seeking to topple Saddam Hussein.
Annan, meanwhile, has criticized the United States
and Britain for blocking Iraqi requests to import more
than $700 million in various goods under the oil-for-food
program. Washington is responsible for holding up
the delivery of more than 580 items, while Britain is
holding up 82 items.
(c) Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
