MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 000624 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: IZ PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "Humanitarian disaster in Iraq" the pro-government daily "The Daily Mirror" dedicated its March 27 editorial to urging the United Nations to provide emergency food and medical aid to the civilian population in Iraq. Excerpts follow: ¶2. ". . .The stories and reports of U. S. and Britain carpet bombing Baghdad and other Iraq cities. . .are graphically compelling. With `live' television coverage of the war from the `embedded' reporters and cameramen and women, the media have apparently forgotten to tell us the grim realities of the other side of the story - the immense suffering of civilian men, women and children during the course of this war. . . Iraqi civilians and not those from the invading countries - are facing tremendous hardships as the war has disrupted their access to food and water which forces them to join hundreds of thousands of people already displaced from their homes. . . What is unfolding in Iraq is a humanitarian disaster of mammoth proportions. . . Although war had been predicted for months, donor governments and U.N. agencies have not openly prepared for the humanitarian emergency. . . The international community must fight to ensure that the humanitarian needs and security of the civilian population are taken care of to address the humanitarian consequences of this war that could have been avoided had sense prevailed. The U. N. must allow Iraqis access to emergency food and medical aid. . . If the world looks aside, the tragedy being played in the Gulf may be too ghastly to contemplate." SULLIVAN