Ex-minister urges MEPs to support anti-Saddam fund

Date: 25/04/02

By David Cronin

A FORMER government minister from Iraqi Kurdistan is calling on the European Commission to financially support groups opposing Saddam Hussein's dictatorship.

Hussain Sinjari, Iraqi Kurdistan's minister for municipalities from 1992-99, recently submitted a proposal for funding to the Commission's EuropeAid office. He wants EU policy-makers to help build contacts between pro-democracy activists in northern Iraq and Iraqi emigrants throughout the world.

Expressing disappointment that EuropeAid does not grant money to Saddam's opponents, Sinjari has asked MEPs to back his funding claim.

He feels it would be in the EU's interest to encourage dissent against the ruling regime. 'If Saddam is going to use weapons of mass destruction, then that is Europe's problem,' Sinjari said. 'And asylum-seekers are leaving Iraq by the thousands - that is Europe's problem too.'

He stressed his opposition to a Washington-ordered air strike against Baghdad. 'If the missiles destroy a few hospitals here and a few schools there, then, of course, the Iraqi people don't want that. We now have to start a movement for democratic change - that could go much further than US missiles. The missiles would not build democracy. They would bring about destruction - as they always have done.'

Fear and apathy are hindering Saddam's downfall, said Sinjari. The president has used food rationing to control people's daily lives. 'If people are thinking of their stomach, who is going to think about democracy?', he asked.

Since the 1991 Gulf War, the EU's involvement in Iraq has been mainly limited to providing humanitarian assistance. The Commission's emergency aid office ECHO last year allocated almost €13 million to Iraq - out of a sum worth €61 million earmarked for the Middle East and North Africa. Meanwhile, the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee this week called on the EU to adopt a common stance on Iraq.

Its members endorsed a report by UK Liberal Emma Nicholson which lamented the failure of EU leaders to reach a consensus on the issue at last month's Barcelona summit. The report is due to be considered by the full Parliament during its May monthly session.

A former government minister from Iraqi Kurdistan, Hussain Sinjari, is calling on the European Commission to financially support groups opposing Saddam Hussein's dictatorship.