Despite Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein's warnings last week that
the war in Afghanistan would spread to
other countries in the Middle East, life
for most United Nations agencies in Iraq
is unchanged.
UN
day, on October 24, was celebrated in the UN Development
Program (UNDP) garden in Baghdad, like most other UN
offices around the world: with children's songs and
speeches from local officials and expatriate UN staff.
"We are here tonight to celebrate, once
again the work of the Organization, which for
56 years has been striving to alleviate the sufferings
of people in the hope of a better world, an organization
present in every part of the world whether at
peace or at war," said Francis Dubois, UNDP
Resident Representative in Iraq. "The United
Nations family is at task; we are all working,
hand in hand with government counterparts, to
improve the situation in the Land of the Two Rivers.
I am sure that I speak on behalf of all my colleagues
when I say: we are all committed to do our utmost
in that respect, and we all hope that together
we shall succeed."
Children from
the Baghdad International School then sang the "Song of Peace," in
English, French, and Arabic.
While Iraq has so far stayed out of the fray
in Afghanistan, and says that all of its deadliest
weapons have been destroyed by almost 11 years
of sporadic US and British bombing, Iraq is one
of three countries in the world that is capable
of producing the quality of anthrax that has been
infiltrating the US postal system.
Just three days
after UN day, on October 27, Iraq's Deputy Prime
Minister Tareq Aziz told Britain
Daily Telegraph in a Baghdad interview that the
US and Britain would use the excuse of the War
against Terrorism to oust Hussein. "We know
they are preparing for such an attack," Aziz
said. "We are watching what is being said
and what is being done in the United States and
Britain and we know that it is just a matter of
time before such an attack."
Such matters are watched anxiously by the UN
and the recipients of their aide programs. One
such person is Hawra Adel, the first woman to
own a shop in the Iraqi city of Hilla. She received
a grant for 1.5 million Iraqi Dinars (about USD$750.00),
and with her degree in Computer Science opened
a computer services and stationary store.
She has now repaid about 30 percent of the loan,
and owns two computers, a fax, a photocopying
machine, a scanner, and a spiral binding machine.
She earns between 50,000 and 200,000 Iraqi Dinars
a month (about USD$25 to USD$100), which helps
feed her family of six.
"The shop has become a sustainable source
of income for us," she said. "My family
has been so supportive, without them I could not
have done it."
She has also become something of a leading woman
in her community, about 100 kilometers from Baghdad.
After she started her store in 1999, two other
women have begun working in shops in her town,
and college girls go to her for academic advice.
But while small achievements such as Aziz's store,
only one of 546 across Iraq, become more common
in daily life, Iraqi is still a country living
under sanctions and the threat of political instability
or even fresh bombings. The sanctions will not
end until Hussein allows weapons inspectors back
into the country. At the same time Iraq has said
that inspections will not be allowed until the
sanctions end.
And, although Hussein has not directly involved
Iraq in the War Against Terrorism, the Czech Republic
confirmed earlier this month that one of the September
11 bombers had met an Iraq agent in Prague just
before the agent was expelled from Prague for
activities in disagreement with his diplomatic
status. The agent had worked at the Iraqi embassy
in Prague.
Just last week
Hussein issued a letter of warning to the US
and Western governments. In it he called
US and British bombing and military action in
Afghanistan a spark that could "set the world
on fire."
"The world now needs to abort the US aggressive
schemes, including its aggression on the Afghan
people, which must stop," he said.
In the mean time Aziz's brother, who like Hawra
is disabled, is trying to finish his Bachelors
degree in Computer Science and follow in his sister's
footsteps. He hopes to apply for a UN loan once
he's graduated and start another store, a kind
of family chain, unless of course, there is a
war.
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