Iraq, US engage in war of words

“Amongst those arrangements and agreements is that they should completely avoid coming near the sites where they are part of Iraq’s sovereignty and national security and this is not something new,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary William Cohen said earlier in the day that Baghdad cannot exclude any areas from the weapons inspectors. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein “has ruled 63 sites off limits. Those cannot be off limits,” he said.

Sahhaf said he expected inspections by UNSCOM, charged with disarming Iraq, will continue “smoothly” after weapons experts completed their second day of inspections after a three-week break.

Iraqi officials said no sensitive areas, such as Presidential palaces, have been entered since inspections resumed on Saturday.

However, President Bill Clinton said the inspectors faced a “massive amount of work” before he would consider the latest UN standoff with Iraq over.

“It is clear that there is a massive amount of work that has to be done there, especially in the chemical and biological inspection areas,” Clinton told a news conference in Vancouver, Canada.

Iraqi deaths

Nearly 7,000 Iraqis, mostly children, died for want of medicines and food in October as a result of the United Nations sanctions, the Iraqi news agency INA said.

The agency, quoting the Health Ministry, said 4,471 children under five died during October, up from 272 deaths in 1989, the year preceding the Gulf war. Besides, 2,158 people aged above 50 also died in October.

The INA report said 1,765 children died of malnutrition while 2,600 children died of acute diarrhoea and lung problems for lack of adequate medicare. Iraq has been short of medicines to treat fatal diseases like blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and a host of paediatric illnesses.