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" ASSALAMO ALAMOON ITABAH AL HOODAH "
I RESPECTFULLY ASK THAT CASI PERMIT ME TO COMMENT ON TWO QUERIES IN ONE REPLY ?
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(1) Subject:
Suggestion for a CASI campaign
Date:
Mon, 13 Sep 1999 21:25:29 -0700 (PDT)
From:
Nathan Geffen <ngeffen@yahoo.com>
Please give feedback on the following campaign suggestion for CASI.
If you're interested in helping, please say so. If you think the
suggestion stinks or needs to be modified, please say so as well.
e.g. a fact sheet/pamphlet drawn up by members of CASI.
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(2) Subject:
Arab groups opposing sanctions, are there any?
Date:
Tue, 14 Sep 1999 15:25:44 +1000
From:
Diaa el Radwa Hadid <s3066141@student.anu.edu.au>
Are there any credible Middle-Eastern based groups opposing the sanctions,
and if so, would it be appropriate to forge links with them ?
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As a starter, why not consider asking these 3 organisations to forge links with CASI ???
Just e-mail your constitution or aims and background to your discussions membership.
1. The N.C.M.P.A. in Kuwait <kncmpa@ncc.moc.kw>
2. The Kuwait Red Crescent Headquarters via London K.I.C. <kuwait@dircon.co.uk>
3. The H.E.L.P. Worldwide Campaign <help-kuwaiti.hostages-pows-iniraq@dtn.ntl.com>
The Arab press this week states that Kuwait does not oppose changes to sanctions !!!
Also, The Arab League Meeting was held 12th - 13th September 1999 (this week) and The
G.C.C. has various Committees, including Women's - see via internet searches or myself.
People in Arab countries, the UK and 'the West' already liaise and co-operate for a
voluntary humanitarian campaign which commenced 1997 in Cardiff, capital city of Wales.
There are Muslim and non-Muslim participants, British and 'foreign' involved with us, of
all backgrounds. The Arab nationals connected with us reside in the Middle East and UK.
The Kuwaiti Red Crescent from 1991 has provided humanitarian assistance, food and
medicines into Iraq, over the borders. K.R.C.S. liaises with their Iraqi counter-parts.
In recent years there have been numerous individuals and groups throughout the globe, with
the best of intentions to assist the free innocent people of Iraq here and abroad.
Glad of these facts, as a Muslim and British national, an idea from Cardiff-born Moonirah
was submitted to an Arab Committee that had been formed in 1991 by the relatives of
hostages/PoWs/missing in Iraq - connected to Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain,
India, Phillipines and Kuwait. As the awaited 605 human beings were illegally abducted to
Iraq whilst living and working in The State of Kuwait, it was natural that their Committee
became established 1991 in the capital city of the Emirate.
History has proven that all families in Kuwait lost relatives, plus suffered rapes,
murder, tortures and the trauma of relatives being illegally abducted as detainees.
The elected Chairman of their Committee called N.C.M.P.A. is Shaikh Salem Al Sabah,
the Kuwaiti Defence Minister.
Relatives of the 605 detainees also reside in Cardiff - Wales, in Scotland and England,
so, in co-operation with the N.C.M.P.A. operating in the Middle East, it was agreed that
the International voluntary humanitarian organisation would be formed called "H.E.L.P."
which Moonirah had thought up as " Hostages' Envoys for Liberty of Prisoners in Iraq ",
because relatives, colleagues and friends of the 605 people communicate as their envoys,
speaking for "voices in isolation" in Iraq. Before carrying out any of her campaigning
ideas, Moonirah was granted permission from the families so to do.
Voluntary campaigner Moonirah met such people and interviewed some on video film, when
visiting the Emirate for two weeks during February 1999 because in 1997 the voluntary
humanitarian organisation H.E.L.P. was established from her idea to highlight the plight
of families in several countries, awaiting return of loved ones. Moonirah also did a talk
at a Seminar of the Kuwait Red Crescent Headquarters and a direct appeal to Saddam on live
Arab Radio 27th February 1999, to please release the 605 hostages and PoWs - in response
to which, the I.N.A. sent her a brief 'denial' by e-mail !!
"H.E.L.P." is supported by the world renowned Welsh Centre for International Affairs and
the Cardiff United Nations Association, in the capital city of Wales, UK.
Since Moonirah's visit to Kuwait, one Web Message Board was noticed to have uncouth text
posted by a male individual claiming to be Iraqi which only brought more attention to
H.E.L.P. and certainly could not assist innocent Iraqi people. However, it has clearly
been seen by Arab media, press and radio that the founder member of H.E.L.P. does things
only for Allah ta'ala. To the message board source she replied "Jazakala khairan".
For contributing efforts to this worldwide humanitarian campaign Moonirah never requires
any thanks or reward in this life's "dunia". La hawla wa la quwatta illah billahi.
Many Welsh women such as Moonirah often 'voluntarily' give time and energy for foreign
humanitarian issues, in addition to politicians such as Welsh MP Ann Clwyd, involved with
setting up " INDICT " to indict Saddam Hussein.
Arab News this week states that Kuwait does not oppose changes to sanctions, we shall see
what happens in London on Wednesday's meeting of the main United Nations members ?
Iraq has agreed in principle and with certain conditions to taking part in a commission
charged with examining the fate of the disappeared, 605 Kuwaitis and third-nationals.
Kuwaiti hostages were seen inside Iraqi prisons by Baroness Emma Nicholson, she stated
publicly on UK Channel 4 TV in London, February 1998.
The sanctions, imposed in August 1990 after Baghdad's troops illegally invaded Kuwait, are
linked to requests for release of hostages and PoWs, Kuwaiti and third-nationals, still
held in Iraq since 1990 -1991, included in the syntax of UN Resolutions 1154 signed 1998
and 687 signed 1991.
To remove Saddam Hussein as Iraq's president, the Clinton administration said Monday it
was seeking to establish an international tribunal to prosecute him and senior aides as
war criminals. Hundreds of Kurds have been killed and 900,000 made homeless in a new round
of repression in the north, while 160 homes of Shiites in the southern village of al-Masha
were bulldozed in late June in response to protests against inadequate distribution of
food and medicine, the State Department said in a report.
The report included photographs taken by U.S. intelligence.
``It is time for him to go,'' Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk said.
``As long as he is around, nothing is going to change his brutal behavior.'' But Indyk
acknowledged that ``we do not, at this point, have evidence of any kind'' that Saddam is
attempting to rebuild his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction that he was ordered to
dismantle at the end of the Persian Gulf war in 1991.
Still, Britain and the Netherlands, which are trying to revive U.N. weapons inspections in
Iraq, have called a conference in London on Wednesday to try to win support for the idea
from Russia, China, France and other nations, Indyk said.
The United States, meanwhile, is going ahead with a plan to provide Iraqi opposition
forces with surplus military equipment while consulting with other governments about
trying Saddam as a war criminal.
``The effort to indict Saddam Hussein as a war criminal is now getting under way, and we
are using our diplomacy to try to support the establishment of a war crimes commission on
Iraq,'' Indyk said. There are currently two war-crimes tribunals, both set up by the
United Nations, to deal with Bosnia and Rwanda.
The Iraqi government has denied it was involved in the killings and has accused Iran and
other countries of being behind the deaths in an effort to destabilize the country. The
State Department showed photos of bulldozed homes along with a picture of what it said was
a sprawling lakeside vacation resort, 85 miles west of Baghdad, with stadiums, an
amusement park, special hospitals and hundreds of homes for government officials.
"Despite its claims that the people of Iraq are dying due to a lack of food and medicine,
Saddam Hussein doesn't hesitate to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for the
entertainment of Ba'ath Party officials and cadres,'' State Department spokesman James P.
Rubin said. Meanwhile, food imports are at pre-war levels and oil revenue has
risen almost to prewar levels, he said. ``But Saddam refused to use this revenue to buy
more food, and much of what is delivered to Iraq is not distributed", Rubin said.
Saddam wants to use the plight of children as a propaganda wedge against a trade embargo
organized by the United States, according to the department.
The Arab press this week states that Kuwait does not oppose changes to sanctions, we shall
see what happens in London on Wednesday's meeting of the main U.N. members ?
Humanitarians and political activists throughout the globe, with respect, should aware of
these relevant points, which directly affect their debates, conferences, petitions and
demonstrations.
U.N. Security Council five permanent members agreed Friday 10/9/99 to hold a meeting on
Iraq in London next week, including China which had refused to attend a similar gathering
in Washington, diplomats said. Both British and U.S. officials said the goal of the
meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, was to conclude a new Security Council policy on Iraq by
the end of September when foreign ministers of the five veto-wielding countries meet on
the edges of the UN General Assembly.
A Chinese spokesman, Chen Ranfeng, said Beijing had accepted the invitation by Britain for
a meeting in London of political directors concerned with Iraqi policy.
He said the reason was that the London meeting would be a continuation of U.N. talks on
Iraq among the five -- the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China -- rather than
a ``new mechanism.'' ''And that's an important point,''.
The United States wanted to hold a meeting among political directors in Washington last
week but China declined to attend. U.S. officials said they backed a British-Dutch draft
resolution but there is little chance China, Russia and France would agree without major
changes. Britain will be represented by a political director, Emyr Jones-Parry, while
Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering will attend for the United States.
The 15-nation Security Council has made no headway in restoring arms control functions in
Iraq since mid-December U.S.-British bombing raids.
The British-Dutch draft resolution would suspend Iraqi sanctions on exports such as oil,
if Baghdad complied with key disarmament demands. Britain quickly gathered co-sponsors for
its draft among the 10 non-permanent council members. They include the Netherlands, which
helped draw up the resolution, Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Gambia, Namibia and
Slovenia.
France, in a rival draft, would suspend sanctions on Iraqi imports as well as exports
immediately after a new arms commission is set up and functioning. In contrast the
British-Dutch draft calls for several steps over eight months to make sure Iraq has
complied with key arms demands.
Nevertheless Britain has indicated it might consider easing sanctions on imports providing
arms inspections resumed and financial controls were in place.
As reported 1998 - 1999 by the British TV, Radio media and national press - it is a fact
that a letter regarding 605 Kuwaiti and third-national hostages plus PoWs still held in
Iraq, signed 19 March 1998 by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook states quite clearly that
"sanctions cannot be lifted until this issue is resolved". Some writers choose to focus on
non-compliance of weapons' inspections - purposefully omitting the human face of this
tragedy and with 'speculation' also misleading concerned individuals about sanctions.
It has been confirmed verbally again to H.E.L.P. by telephone with the British Foreign
Office, Middle East Department recently, when A New Draft Proposal was submitted to the UN
by Britain appertaining to all aspects of this whole issue.
i.e. Release of the 605 has always been requested within the syntax of United Nations
Resolutions 1154 signed March 1998 and 687 signed February 1991.
MA'ASALAMA.
Moonirah - H.E.L.P. Voluntary Humanitarian Co-ordinator
Hostages Envoys' for Liberty of Prisoners in Iraq
E-mail:help-kuwaiti.hostages-pows-iniraq@dtn.ntl.com
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News relayed from H.E.L.P. with written e-mail permission to copy news by Clari Net AFP.
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