Global Policy Forum

By Waiel Faleh

President Saddam Hussein told a visiting Chinese delegation Saturday that Iraq suffers almost daily bombings by U.S. and British jets while the U.N. Security Council does nothing to stop it, state-run television said.

Speaking to a delegation led by Chinese Cabinet official Ismail Amat, Saddam criticized the United States and Britain for what Iraq considers to be violations of Security Council resolutions. "The Iraqi people are facing real difficulties and continuous conspiracy from America and Britain when they bomb northern and southern Iraq on a daily basis," television quoted Saddam as telling his guests.

"This fact tells us the level the Security Council has reached, watching two of its members violate its resolution and doing nothing. ... How can they demand others to implement the same council's resolutions?" Saddam said. He asked his guests to convey his message to Chinese President Jiang Zemin. China is one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

The Chinese visitors, including officials from the ministries of health, trade, foreign affairs and the Chinese Red Cross, arrived Friday aboard the first direct flight from Beijing. They also delivered a letter from Zemin to Saddam. Amat will stay in Baghdad for three days at the invitation of the Iraqi government.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the Chinese mission or whether it constituted a violation of U.N. sanctions. China has criticized the U.N. ban on commercial flights to and from Iraq, echoing protests from fellow Security Council members France and Russia. Iraq has been under U.N. sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

U.S. and British jets have been patrolling no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq in a program designed to protect Kurdish and Shiite groups against government forces. Baghdad has been challenging the planes since late 1998, saying the zones violate its sovereignty and international law. Iraqi civilians have been killed and injured in the attacks.