IRAQ: SADDAM INTERNATIONAL OPEN FOR RESCUE FLIGHT

Описание: (21 Aug 2000) English/Nat
XFA
A German medical plane belonging to a German Humanitarian Air Rescue Organisation landed at Baghdad's newly re-opened international airport on Sunday to evacuate a sick Swede and his family to Turkey for treatment.

The German Air Rescue flight is the first of its kind to land at Saddam International Airport in 10 years.

U-N trade sanctions imposed on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990 ban flights to and from the airport.

U-N clearance was obtained for the German flight prior to landing.

German captain Norbert Fleischmann refused to say what the Swede was doing in Iraq or what he was suffering from.

He confirmed that he would be accompanied by his wife and child.

On Saturday, a Russian plane with a 35-member delegation landed at Saddam International
airport which had been reopened to international flights on Thursday.

Iraq's Minister of Transport and Communication, Dr Ahmed Murteda Ahmed, told reporters that Iraq was ready to give all support to flights using the Airport.

The first aid flight to land in Iraq since 1990 arrived last Christmas with Santa Claus on board, to collect a sick Iraqi child for treatment in the Netherlands.

It had to use Habanieia Airport, west of Baghdad.

U-S Security Council members are currently debating whether flight wavers should be obtained from the sanctions committee.

France and Russia, considered Iraq's closest allies on the council, believe that waivers are unnecessary for incoming flights.

However the ban has been widely observed so far with the international community rebuffing
Iraqi pleas to resume commercial air travel.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We have 25 rescue helicopters operating in Germany and we have two aircraft to pick up sick persons, world wide, to bring them back to Germany or to bring them like in this case
from Baghdad to Izmir, Turkey."
SUPER CAPTION: Norbert Fleischmann, Captain of the plane

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I feel bad about this embargo, I feel very bad about it, and I think my latest information is that the embargo is not staying much longer."
SUPER CAPTION: Norbert Fleischmann, Captain of the plane

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I have only the mission to take the sick, Swedish person to take to Turkey."
SUPER CAPTION: Doctor Christoph Hirsch

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