IRAQ: Iraq has urged the United Nations to stop an "undeclared war" waged by US and British warplanes policing a self-declared "no-fly" zone in the south of the country.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mr Naji Sabri, in a letter sent to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Saturday, said allied planes based in neighbouring Kuwait had violated Iraqi airspace on 1,141 occasions between November 9th and December 6th.
"These daily violations . . . facilitated by the government of Kuwait, and the barbaric bombing of Iraq's cities and villages, have reached the level of an undeclared war," Mr Sabri wrote.
"The United Nations must take the necessary steps in line with the (UN) charter to halt the aggression." His letter coincided with fresh incidents in the southern no-fly zone on Saturday.
Iraq said US and British warplanes attacked civilian targets, but the US military said the planes had targeted Iraqi air defence facilities after coming under fire.
UN arms inspectors revisited four suspect sites yesterday in their quest to track down any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency spent around two hours at the Um al-Maarek (Mother of Battles) military complex, once a nuclear research centre, at Yusoufiyya, some 15 km south of Baghdad.
Um al-Maarek, named after Iraq's term for the 1991 Gulf war, is an arm of the state Military Industrialisation Commission. Iraqi officials say it produces light machinery.
A chemical team from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) spent more than six hours at al-Qaqa complex, about 40 km south of Baghdad.
Its director, Sinan Rasim Saeed, said the experts had focused on the facility's sulphuric acid concentration plant.
Another UNMOVIC team went back to al-Nasr (Victory) complex in the Taji area, some 25 km north of Baghdad.
Inspectors also went to the Mu'tassim missile plant in Jurf Sakhr, 40 km south of Baghdad. The plant occupies the grounds of the former al-Atheer nuclear facility.
UN teams visited around a dozen sites on Saturday - the heaviest day of inspections since they resumed their search last month after a four-year gap.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said President Bush was a warmonger and hypocrite yesterday.
Mr Aziz said President Bush was "driving America to a hostile imperialist policy" that was dangerous for both the United States and the world.
Appearing on a US television programme, Mr Aziz said of President Bush: "He's a hypocrite because a true Christian would not be a warmonger, would not push for the destruction of a country and its people."
In London, opponents of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein yesterday agreed a political blueprint for the country's future, calling for a federal and tolerant Iraq in the event Saddam is ousted from power.
After two days of talks in London, around 330 delegates representing six opposition groups recognised by the United States have hammered out a final declaration for a post-Saddam Iraq.
The final draft vows to refuse foreign guardianship and occupation of Iraq if Saddam is toppled. It said Iraq's new government should be a federal democracy and Islam should remain as the state religion. But the delegation is still debating the make-up of a 40-45 member leadership committee which could act as an interim administration.
The declaration also said that Iraq must be allowed to produce oil as much as its capacity permits. - (Reuters)