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- DATE: FEB. 21, 1991 13:55 REPORT:
- TO: SPL
- FOR:
- CC:
- BUREAU: PARIS
- BY: WALKER
- IN: MADRID
- SLUG: XWHAT'S VICTORY MEAN
-
- Fuel supplies to US forces, operating out of bases in
- Spain, were temporarily halted Thursday after a small
- bomb exploded near the Southern Spanish city of Cordoba.
- The bomb, described by police as "a small home-made
- device" caused slight damage to the pipe-line linking the
- bases of Zaragoza, in North East Spain, Torrejon, near
- Madrid, and Moron and Rota in the South of the country,
- carrying supplies of gasoline, kerosene and oil. Police,
- who immediately began a search for any further bombs,
- said that supplies would be back to normal within 24 to
- 36 hours.
- (So far no organisation has accepted responsibility for
- the terrorist attack.)
-
- The Moron Air Base, near Seville, is currently handling
- traffic of B-52 bombers on their daily sorties to the
- Gulf. Fuel is supplied by the cross-country pipeline, but
- a large part of the arms and equipment are being ferried
- from the Zaragoza base by Spanish Airforce transport
- planes. Although the Spanish government has the support
- of the main political parties on the Spanish role of
- cooperating with the Allies, Prime Minister Felipe
- Gonzalez has come under considerable pressure at home for
- permitting Moron to be used by the B-52's without first
- consulting the Cortes (parliament).
-
- The Spanish government has expressed caution over the
- Gorbachev peace initiative, preferring to wait until
- after Tarik Aziz brings back Sadam Hussein's answer to
- Moscow. Speaking in Madrid only minutes after the Iraqi
- leader's "confused" address to his people on Thursday,
- Soviet Foreign Minister, Alexandr Besmertnij, said that
- he had no real confidence that Sadam would accept the
- proposals, adding: "But faith is the last thing one
- should lose."
-
- Besmertnij, who cut short his visit to fly back to
- Moscow for his meeting with Tarik Aziz, was in Madrid for
- a Foreign Ministers' meeting of the Council of Europe
- during which Czechoslovakia was admitted as a full
- member. The Soviet Minister delivered a personal letter
- to Gonzalez from President Gorbachev, detailing the
- points of his Iraqi peace plan, and briefed the Spanish
- Prime Minister on the talks held in Moscow. Speaking
- after their meeting, Besmertnij reiterated the Council's
- closing statement which said that the first step to peace
- must be the Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait, adding that
- after that the future of Iraq and Sadam Hussein would be
- up to the UN Security Council.
-
- Best regards.
-
-