Iraq Repeats Rejection of UN Resolution 1284Iraq repeated its rejection of the United Nations Resolution 1284 on Sunday, citing that the resolution aims to prolong the UN sanctions on Iraq, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.The latest refusal of the UN resolution was made during a symposium held by the ruling Arab Baath Socialist Party and attended by President Saddam Hussein and Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan. Iraqi people refuse to accept the resolution because it aims to keep the decade-old sanctions on Iraq in place, Saddam was quoted by the INA as saying. This is the first time for the Iraqi president to speak out against the UN resolution after it was passed by the UN Security Council last December. His remarks were echoed by Ramadan, who said the sanctions will never be lifted by a UN resolution, but by the steadfastness of the Iraqi people. Iraq has intensified its rhetoric against the UN resolution recently. In an interview by the official Jumhuriya newspaper on July 16, Ramadan said the UN resolution is "unacceptable." "This resolution aims at making our country a US-British protectorate. We totally reject the resolution," he said. Ramadan is just one of the senior Iraqi officials who have expressed rejection of the UN resolution. The arms inspection group, called the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), was set up by the UN following the adoption of the UN resolution. The resolution offers to ease sanctions on Iraq if it allows the UNMOVIC to verify its destruction of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has insisted the total lifting of sanctions is a precondition for the return of U.N. arms inspectors. |
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