UNITED NATIONS (IPS)� UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has admitted that the United Nations has recorded over 200 aerial violations of Iraq�s demilitarized zone (DMZ) since 1999.

"In the majority of cases, however, it has not been possible for the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM) to identify the aircraft involved or to determine their nationality," he said.

"I should emphasize that the inability of UNIKOM to identify the States that are responsible for conducting such flights is in no way to be understood to constitute condonation of them," he said in a letter to Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf.

Since it was established in 1991, UNIKOM has monitored the demilitarized zone and has reported violations committed on land, in the airspace, and since 1999, in the waters within that zone.

"These violations have been recorded on a regular basis and have been reported in the six-monthly reports that I have made to the Security Council on the work of that Mission,�� Mr. Annan said in his letter released Feb. 22.

He was responding to a letter of protest from Iraq over recent aerial bombing over the "no-fly zone" inside Iraq by British and U.S. fighter planes.

In his letter to Mr. Annan, the Iraqi foreign minister condemned the bombings as an "act of aggression�� by the United States and Britain, and called for urgent and concrete action to prevent its recurrence.

Although the "no-fly zone" was established by the United States, Britain and France outside of the UN Security Council, the French have not been a party to the recent spate of bombings. Both U.S. and British fighter planes have been flying over these unilaterally designated no-fly zones presumably to provide protection to the minority Kurds.

The Iraqis have responded by activating their air defense systems and thereby provoking retaliation by U.S. and British combat aircraft.

In his letter, Mr. Annan has also told the Iraqis that the United Nations has intervened with representatives of the United States and Britain urging them to respect the demilitarized zone created by the Security Council in April 1991.

The Iraqis argue that both the United States and Britain are in violation of a zone created by the council, of which they are veto-wielding, permanent members.

Mr. Annan said that the "no-fly zones" were declared over parts of the territory of Iraq "by certain members of the Security Council, claiming authority under resolutions of the Security Council."

"In this connection, I should like to recall what has always been, and remains, my consistent position, namely that it is for the Security Council to interpret its own resolutions."

Therefore, Mr. Annan told the Iraqi foreign minister, it is for the council to address the lawfulness or otherwise of the actions "to which you refer in your letter."

Speaking to reporters Feb. 19, Mr. Annan also pointed out that he had not been consulted either by the British or the Americans before the February bombings.