Collins Edomaruse With Agency Reports
23 March 2003
Lagos — No fewer than 33 American and British nationals have been killed in the on-going war in the Persian Gulf to oust Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. This is coming on the heels of a sharp disagreement between the United States and the Federal Government of Nigeria over the former's suspension of militay assistance to the latter following Nigeria's position on the Iraqi war.
The country's Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Howard Jetter, in a four paragraph press release entitled: "Military Assistance to Nigeria" said: "The US Embassy in Nigeria understands Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dubem Onyia on March 21 reported that the United States had suspended military assistance to Nigeria as a result of Nigeria's Iraq policy.
"This is not the case. The US government has not sought to influence Nigeria policy on Iraq through the suspension of military assistance. While some US military assistance to Nigeria has been affected by US legislation that went into effect on February 20, those limitations were in no way related to Nigeria's stand on Iraq.
"The restrictions stem from our concerns regarding human rights abuses by Nigerian military forces in Benue State in 2001. We have, over the past year and a half, explained these concerns to the Nigerian government and warned of possible congressional action to limit military assistance. The honourable minister of state's recent pronouncements on this issue were ill-informed."
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Chief Dubem Onyia, had last Friday summoned the US Ambassador to his office over what the minister described as the United States decision to suspend military assistance to Nigeria over the Benue killings.
According to Onyia, the US decision, coming so soon after Nigeria's expression of opposition to the US-led war on Iraq is "sheer intimidation."
Onyia added, however, that if the US had indeed decided to suspend its military assistance to Nigeria, "so be it."
The minister restated Nigeria's stand that the credibility of the United Nations must be preserved and that any attempt to undermine this credibility should be resisted.
In his response, Jeter explained that America's decision to withdraw its military assistance had nothing to do with Nigeria's position on Iraq. He, however, expressed his country's disappointment over Nigeria's stance on Iraq.
Meanwhile, the military campaign in the Gulf continued yesterday with several casualties on both sides. A breakdown of the casualty list indicates that early yesterday, seven soldiers from the coalition forces died when two British Sea King helicopters collided after take-off in the Gulf. A US Navy officer was also believed killed in addition to six British servicemen.
On Friday, eight British Royal Marines and four US Marines died when their sea knight helicopter crashed near the Iraqi border.
In a related development four US scouts died yesterday when their vehicle was struck by one or more rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) in an apparent Iraqi ambush, various media reported.
Additional details were not immediately available. If confirmed, the deaths would bring the number of coalition combat deaths to six since armed conflict began four days ago.
Three journalists were also feared dead while five others sustained varying degrees of injury. Agency report said at least five journalists were injured and three reported missing yesterday near the Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr, a Kuwaiti armed forces according to the Kuwait News Agency.
Colonel Yousef al-Mullah told the agency that the circumstances behind those injured or missing were not clear, but he urged reporters in Kuwait not embedded with U.S. or British troops not to enter the border area until the area is militarily secured.
Earlier reports from media in Kuwait said two cars carrying foreign journalists came under fire yesterday on the road between Umm Qasr and Basra. Both cars belonged to the British television network ITV. A French journalist was also reported detained yesterday by Iraqi soldiers.
Meanwhile, President George Bush in a radio address to Americans yesterday warned that his country's led war in Iraq would not be an easy exercise and may last longer than expected.
Bush said the war in Iraq "could be longer and more difficult than some have predicted" in his weekly radio address yesterday.
He, however, repeated U.S. determination to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and "end Iraqi leader SaddamhH_ssein's support for terrorism".
But he said military action begun on Thursday represented "a campaign on harsh terrain in a vast country."
"Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force. This will not be a campaign of half measures", he said.
Bush's declaration came on the heels of call by Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak for an immediate ceasefire in the US-led war on Iraq yesterday and warned the US against widening the scope of the conflict.
Information Minister Safwat al-Sherif told reporters that Mubarak made the call during a meeting with key members of his cabinet, which was convened to discuss the war in Iraq.
Sherif added that the president also expressed concern over the possible loss of civilian lives and warned against tampering wit Iraq's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
The Egyptian leader further repeated his country's stance against the use of force to effect regime change and called on all to respect the Iraqi people's right to freely choose their leaders.
Mubarak made a similar appeal to U.S. President George W. Bush during telephone conversation with the American leader after the commencement of the U.S.-led military campaign on Thursday.
Meanwhile heavy clouds of black smoke above the Iraqi capital today were believed to have been stemmed from pools of oil lit by Iraqis to provide a cloak of smoke protecting Baghdad against coalition air strikes, BBC news television reported.
Baghdad has been subjected to massive air strikes during the past 20 hours, strikes which Iraqi authorities said have killed three civilians and wounded 250.
Coalition forces have said the strikes using highly accurate precision munitions targeted Iraqi government installations.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2003 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
