ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 2, 1991                   TAG: 9103020364
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS                                LENGTH: Short

U.N. GROUP FINDS IRAQ IN DANGER OF EPIDEMICS

Iraqis are threatened by epidemics from drinking polluted river water and have resorted to chopping down Baghdad's trees to build fires for cooking and heat, a U.N. team reported Friday.

Allied bombs have destroyed Baghdad's electricity, communications, fresh water and sewage systems, according to a joint UNICEF-World Health Organization mission that visited Iraq from Feb. 16 to Feb. 21.

The mission said food was scarce, bread was no longer on sale, and meat was priced at more than $16.36 a pound in a nation where the average monthly wage is about $300.

The U.N. report was the first reliable wide-ranging survey of the devastation suffered by Baghdad during the six-week Persian Gulf War. Reports by Western journalists have been censored by Iraqi officials. - Associated Press 


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