UAE sends flight of hope to Iraq, defies UN sanctions

The flights to Baghdad, carrying medicine, politicians, officials and activists, have been largely symbolic and have sought to lessen Iraq’s isolation by exploiting a loophole in a 1990 U S Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait.

A UAE official said on Wednesday that the flight was ordered by UAE President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan.

The official WAM news agency said on Thursday the flight aimed to "lessen the suffering of the Iraqi people under sanctions and international isolation for the past 10 years".

The UAE, which had taken part in the U S-led military coalition that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait in 1991, has been at the forefront of Arab states calling for an end to the crippling U N sanctions.

The UAE in April reactivated diplomatic relations with Iraq when it reopened its embassy in Baghdad, the fourth Gulf Arab state to do so.

In late 1998 a Dubai-based company started a ferry service between Dubai and Iraq after obtaining U N permission.

The UAE, Tunisia and Algeria had filed papers with the Security Council’s Iraqi sanctions committee for flights to Baghdad.

Tunisia, a member of the committee that includes all 15 Security Council members, sent a plane to Baghdad on Wednesday and Algeria is planning a flight on Thursday.

Any one committee member can block a flight.

France and Russia argue that there is no flight ban on passengers provided the cargo is inspected for military and other contraband goods. They say the committee merely needs to be notified and does not need to authorise aircraft.

The United States and Britain admit there are varying interpretations to the resolution but insist all aircraft have to be authorised by the committee. Both countries have approved most applications so far, even though the flights appear more political than humanitarian.