Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.wpost From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: AROUND THE WORLD=From news services=U.N. Inspectors Threatened in Iraq< Date: Sat, 31 Oct 92 08:47:18 EST Message-ID: <26.1992Oct31.084718@AmeriCast.com> AROUND THE WORLD=From news services=U.N. Inspectors Threatened in Iraq< MANAMA, Bahrain - A U.N. team that was inspecting Iraq for weapons was harassed and threatened with death despite official assurances they would be safe, the chief inspector said yester- day. "In the beginning they assured us his 50-strong team from two weeks in Iraq. But anonymous notes, "threatening to kill people," were slipped under the hotel-room doors of several team members, Smidovich said. Once, someone on a hotel balcony threw a light bulb at inspectors in the lobby, he said. The U.N. Security Council demanded last year that Iraq provide safety and all logistical support requested by the U.N. Special Commission, the unit for which Smidovich works overseeing the el- imination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Smidovich's team - the 45th sent by the commission - focused on whether the Iraqis had any more Scuds or other ballistic missiles left. Despite the incidents - and a week in which the hotel refused to clean the team's rooms - Smidovich spoke of Iraqi cooperation in providing information and in granting access to all the more than 50 sites they had sought to inspect. He said the newest data would have to be studied before it could be determined whether further visits would be necessary.< < Iliescu Vows Reforms< BUCHAREST, Romania - President Ion Iliescu, reelected Oct. 11, vowed in his inaugural speech to stick to pluralism, free-market reforms and a Western-oriented foreign policy. He also pledged to resist nationalist pressures that might split his Balkan country of 23 million. Iliescu, 62, made his commitments in a speech to the new parlia- ment, which reinstalled the former Communist official for a four-year term. He said his search for a prime minister and a new government coalition after inconclusive parliamentary elections is continuing.< Venezuelans Rebel Again< CARACAS, Venezuela - A group of rebel Venezuelan officers charged in the Feb. 4 coup attempt took their prison director and other officials hostage to demand better conditions, the lawyer for some of the accused coup participants said. "They do not have a violent stance," Carlos Fermin told report- ers. He confirmed radio reports that 25 officers had "peacefully re- tained" Col. Luis Alayon Cedeo, commander of the San Carlos mili- tary prison, as well as the prison chaplain and other officials. The officers, who were charged in the bloody overnight attempt to topple President Carlos Andres Perez, took Alayon hostage after he refused to resolve their complaints. The officers' grievances included limited visitation rights, harassment of visiting relatives, and inadequate supply of drink- ing water in the prison, Fermin said.<02:23 10-31C9999----- Copyright 1992, The Washington Post. This story is from the Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar- chived or redistributed. For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor- poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)