277/981217/DD

Brussels December 17 1998 (ICFTU OnLine): "We are gravely concerned about the civilian casualities in Iraq, and call for negotiations to begin immediately on a peaceful resolution to the conflict over the UN disarmament programme ", said ICFTU General Secretary Bill Jordan commenting on the current situation in Iraq.

The ICFTU is calling on Saddam Hussein to co-operate fully with the UNSCOM inspection team and Security Council resolutions on the elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

The air strikes on Iraq follow a report on Iraqi compliance delivered by Richard Butler, chief United Nations weapons inspector, which detailed a series of obstructions that UNSCOM has encountered. UNSCOM concluded that it had not been able to conduct the disarmament work mandated to it by the UN Security Council, and so give the Council the assurances it required on Iraq's prohibited weapons programme.

" A UN supervised programme of disarmament is the only available way to reduce the persistent threat to peace in the region and ensure that Iraq's resources and those of the international community are used to tackle poverty, reduce unemployment, improve health and education services. Yet again the crisis shows that, in the absence of basic civil and political rights, a dictatorial regime will divert resources from social priorities to the military apparatus that sustains it in power ", the ICFTU finished.