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Muslim Group: Joining Iraqi Blockade Will Harm Australia
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| Sanctions kill Iraqi children |
SYDNEY, Jan. 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Australian Muslim group warned Wednesday Australia's assumption of command of an international sanctions blockade in the Gulf would harm its interests in the region.
The warning followed the announcement that the commander of the Royal Australian Navy task group in the Gulf, Captain Allan Du Toit, and his headquarters staff had moved to a U.S. ship to take over command.
The interception force includes Australian, U.S., British and Canadian ships and its main task is to intercept ships that may be attempting to violate the international blockade of Iraq.
Australian daily newspaper, The Australian, reported Wednesday that Australia has replaced the U.S. as commander of the 11-year naval blockade against Iraq.
That, the paper said, is a signal the navy's presence is not needed in the campaign against terrorism.
"Instead of engaging in the fight against the Taleban and al-Qa'ida, Australia will now lead enforcement of the sanctions against Iraq imposed in 1990 after the Gulf War," said The Australian.
The sanctions aim to prevent Iraq increasing its military capability with income from oil and exports, or by importing military equipment. But critics say they have brought misery to the Iraqi people while failing to unseat Saddam Hussein, the paper added.
Three of the promised four ships intended to join the U.S. so-called "war on terrorism" ended up being sent and all have been diverted to join the blockade of Iraq, reported The Australian.
Captain Du Toit and his headquarters were this week flown from the amphibious command ship HMAS Kanimbla to a U.S. warship, reported the Daily Telegraph.
But Muslim groups in Australia feel that this participation will harm the national interests of Australia.
Vice president of the Lebanese Muslims Association, Keysar Trad, said that in his rush to say Australia had been given command of the blockade, Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, had forgotten the blockade could only serve to harm Australia in Arab markets.
"As France, Russia and many other countries get ready to take advantage of the trade void with Iraq and take the most lucrative contracts for oil, food and medication, the U.S. finds a willing scapegoat to command the blockade," Keysar said.
"By agreeing to command the blockade, Australia has agreed to replace the United States as the prime cause of death of Iraqi civilians,” he added. "Traders from Arab countries will be under increased public pressure not to sign contracts with countries involved in the blockade."
He said 10 years of sanctions had led to the death of 1.6 million Iraqi civilians from starvation and treatable disease.
About 800,000 of these were children and about 6,000 deaths of children per month were directly attributable to the sanctions.
On December 29, Iraq's interim charge d'affaires in the U.N., Man'm Al-Qadi, informed the United Nations Sanctions Committee that a total of 1,614,303 people had died due to the stringent U.N. sanctions on the country since 1990.
In a letter to the U.N. Sanctions Committee, Al-Qadi said that the colossal human losses include 667,773 children under the age of five, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
In sharp contrast, the report said there were only 258 recorded deaths of children under five in 1989, one year before the sanctions were imposed on Iraq, the Chinese Xinhua news agency reported.
The letter slammed the "arbitrary" practices of the U.N. committee by suspending Iraq's contracts signed with other countries to import food, medicine and other essentials within the framework of the U.N. oil-for-food program since 1996.
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