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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release April 28, 1998

AmeriCares Humanitarian Mission to Iraq

On Tuesday, April 28, an airplane chartered by the AmeriCares humanitarian relief organization will bring a shipment of medical supplies from the United States to Baghdad. These medicines will be turned over to the International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent for distribution to twenty-one hospitals in Iraq.

The United States Government was pleased to assist AmeriCares in its effort to undertake this mission. While it is small relative to the $5.25 billion UN food-for-oil humanitarian program that we also have endorsed, the mission nonetheless reflects the concern of the Government and people of the United States for the welfare of the Iraqi people.

We remain deeply disturbed by the manipulation of UN humanitarian programs by Saddam Hussein, and again call upon the Iraqi regime to cooperate with UN Security Council Resolution 1153, which authorizes increased humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq.