Iraq (Hansard, 14 February 2000)

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Minister of State's oral statement of 8 February 2000,Official Report, column 29WH, on Iraq, if he will list the food sold by Iraq to Syria in 1999–2000. [110039]

§ Mr. Hain
We have reliable eyewitness reports from as early as 1998 of Iraqi foodstuffs including dates, honey, rice and cooking oil being exported to and sold in Syria. Some of the goods were clearly labelled as having been donated to Iraq by third countries. The concern of those governments for the well-being of the Iraqi people is not shared by the Iraqi regime.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Minister of State's oral statement of 8 February 2000,Official Report, column 30WH, what reports he has received from Christine Gosden about disease in the Basra area. [110087]

§ Mr. Hain
I met Christine Gosden on 26 November 1999 to discuss her findings about disease in northern Iraq, as a result of the murderous attacks on Halabja by Saddam Hussein' s forces. We did not discuss disease in the Basra area.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received since 1 January 1999 from(a) Iran, (b) Jordan, (c) Turkey, (d) Saudi Arabia and (e) the Gulf States about Iraq being a threat to regional peace. [110038]

§ Mr. Hain
The GCC, in the communiqué issued after its twentieth summit last year, renewed its call for the need for Iraq to prove its peaceful intentions in word and deed towards its neighbours. Contacts with other regional states confirm that they too remain concerned about the threat posed by Iraq.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Minister of State's oral statement of 8 February 2000,Official Report, column 31WH, on Iraq, what is the location of the vast regional wetland to which he refers. [110040]

§ Mr. Hain
In the early 1970s the southern marshes of Iraq covered 5,200 square km west of the Tigris river. Following concerted efforts by the Iraqi government to drain the wetland, including the construction of an east-west dam and a north-south canal, by 1993 very little standing water remained in the area. I have arranged for photographs of the area in 1972 and 1993 to be placed in the Library of the House.

§ Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Minister of State's oral statement of 8 February 2000,Official Report, 427W column 29WH, on Iraq, if he will seek an explanation from the Iraqi Government of their reasons for the purchase of bank note counting machines. [110036]

Mr. Haim
No. The distribution plan for "oil for food" is drawn up by Iraq and approved by the UN Secretary-General. Iraq's last three distribution plans have included allocations for bank note counting machines. On each occasion the Secretary-General has refused to approve this allocation on the grounds that bank note counting machines are not consistent with the objectives of "oil for food".