The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
UN agencies based in Jordan brace for eventual hits on Iraq
AMMAN, Sept 19 (AFP) - United Nations agencies based in
Jordan are
reviewing contingency plans in the event of strikes on Iraq
following the
September 11 terror attacks in the United States, officials said
Wednesday.
"We have received 'secret' instructions from our offices in New
York to
start preparations within our emergency plans in the event of a
US strike on
Iraq," a UN agency official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Frantic steps to stock up on supplies, namely food," started
four days
ago, the official said.
Meanwhile the representative of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees
(UNHCR) in Amman, Dario Carminati, said his agency has
taken "precautionary
measures in any event of the crisis reaching the region".
"We are reviewing inventory and our contingency plans,"
Carminati said.
According to the UN official the UNHCR, which has an office in
Baghdad, is
stocking up on food and water mainly and taking steps to
prepare for fallout
from an eventual attack on Iraq, including the displacement of
civilians.
"Different scenarios are being envisaged at the (Iraqi
international)
borders and inside Iraq," Carminati said.
"Normally in our contingency plan, we expect people to move
more to Turkey
and Iran, in case of the closing of borders, and less to Jordan,"
he said.
"Very few Iraqi refugees come to Jordan," he said, adding
however that
nationals from other countries living in Iraq moved to Jordan in
the wake of
the 1991 Gulf war.
A US government source said Tuesday that the Central
Intelligence Agency
was checking reports that a hijacker of one of the airliners that
crashed into
New York's World Trade Center on September 11 had met a
senior Iraqi
intelligence official prior to the terror attacks.
"There is an indication that such a meeting occurred earlier this
year in
Europe," said the source.
But the CIA was not certain the meeting "had anything to do with
Tuesday's
events," the source added.
US Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday the United States
had no evidence
about Baghdad's involvement in the plot.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri denied in an interview
published
Wednesday that Baghdad had any role "near or far" in the US
terror attacks.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq
For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk
CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings.