Iraq opposition calls for human rights monitors

> >

> >    By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

> >    LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The main opponents of President Saddam

> > Hussein appealed to the international community on Friday to station

> > human rights monitors in Iraq to ensure the end of repression in the

> > country if he were deposed.

> >    Opposition groups across the board, which have been trying to shift

the

> > focus on Iraq beyond weapons of mass destruction, joined an independent

> > Arab campaign to send Arab League and U.N. monitors to Iraq.

> >    The monitors would oversee a peaceful transition to democratic rule,

> > even if the United States occupied the country.

> >    The campaign, which was launched earlier this month from Beirut,

> > includes Palestinian professor Edward Said, Lebanese lawyer Chibli

> > Mallat and Syrian intellectual Sadeq al-Azm.

> >    They also aim to exercise pressure on Arab governments to join in the

> > isolation of Saddam, which could help convince him to leave office in

> > exchange for amnesty -- avoiding war and the potential death of

thousands

> > of Iraqis.

> >    "Human rights monitors must be stationed all over Iraq. Work is

overdue

> > on the mechanism and the strong U.N. resolutions necessary," said Nabil

> > al-Mousawi, spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, which is based in

> > London.

> >    Mousawi said the opposition was under no illusion that the

possibility

> of

> > Saddam leaving power voluntarily was small, but Arab countries that have

> > political and economic dealings with the Iraqi leader should boycott

him.

> >    "It is time to shake the impotence of Arab governments. Some are

afraid

> > of Iraq changing to a democracy in record time. They would love the

> > United States to install a military dictator to replace Saddam," Mousawi

> > told Reuters.

> >    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said earlier this month that

> > Washington would not want to run Iraq for long after an "appropriate"

form

> > of government was established in the country.

> >    He declined to say how long U.S. troops could stay after any war

> > against Iraq to rid it of its alleged weapons of mass destruction, for

> which

> > U.N. inspectors resumed searching in November.

> >    Many in the opposition are sceptical that the United States favours

> > democracy in Iraq, although the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act supported a

> > transition to pluralism and authorised financing for some opposition

> groups.

> >    Hamid al-Bayati, a senior official of the Supreme Council of the

> Islamic

> > Revolution in Iraq, said his Tehran-based group was also behind the

> > campaign.

> >    "Human rights is fundamental to the future Iraq. Any move  that could

> > help depose Saddam and spares the lives of the Iraqi people is

positive,"

> > Bayati said.

> >    Sadiq al-Mousawi, spokesman for the Constitutional Monarchist

> > Movement, said: "We want to avoid a repeat of the history of Iraq under

> > Saddam."

> > ((Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, editing by Charles Dick; Reuters

> > Messaging: khaled.oweis.reuters.com@reuters.net, +44 20 7542 4087))

> >

> > For Related News, Double Click on one of these codes:

> > [G] [MD] [O] [RNP] [DNP] [PGE] [PEN] [EMK] [OIL] [IQ] [IR] [LB] [SY]

> > [PS] [MEAST] [GB] [US] [POL] [DIP] [LEN] [RTRS]

> > Friday, 31 January 2003 18:53:40