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US plans to lift Iraq sanctions
26/04/2003 11:52 - (SA)
United Nations - The United States is planning to introduce a UN resolution as early as next week that would lift sanctions against Iraq and address a host of other divisive post-war issues, council diplomats said on Friday.
In addition to ending sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the omnibus resolution would authorise the phasing-out of the UN oil-for-food humanitarian programme, which would end UN control over Iraq's oil revenue, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The resolution would endorse the role of the US-led military coalition now in control of Iraq and the establishment of an interim Iraqi authority, they said. It would also ask Secretary-General Kofi Annan to appoint a UN special coordinator to work with US officials in Baghdad on UN activities.
"We will propose ... that the council address this new situation in an appropriate manner, and we think that's by lifting the sanctions and winding down the oil-for-food programme," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.
"We would expect to continue our consultations and probably present a text or present some ideas on a resolution soon," he said, adding in response to a question that "next week is included in soon."
The Security Council has already started wrestling with the future of sanctions, the oil-for-food programme, UN weapons inspections and Iraqi oil sales - interlinked issues over which members are deeply divided. It faces a June 3 deadline, when the current six-month phase of the oil-for-food program ends.
Another thorny issue is the role of the United Nations in post-war Iraq.
Earlier this month, US President George W. Bush and his closest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the world body would have "a vital role" - but didn't spell out exactly what it would be.
Boucher said there is a role for UN experts in reconstruction and relief and that Bush also envisions the United Nations "endorsing and supporting the post-conflict administration."
The UN relationship is "expanding," Boucher added, but "how exactly that role might be defined further in a UN resolution - I think it's just a little too early to talk about."
The US resolution already faces competition: France has proposed temporarily suspending sanctions, instead of lifting them, and gradually phasing out the oil-for-food programme. Russia wants Annan to run the entire programme, including taking charge of Iraqi oil sales and future development of its vast oil fields, until an internationally recognised Iraqi government comes to power, a process US officials say could take several years.
One diplomat predicted a long and difficult debate over a post-war resolution in the council, which has not yet recovered from the bitter battle over the war. France, Russia, China, Germany and other members opposed a US-British-Spanish resolution seeking council authorisation to attack Iraq, and both sides are still raw from the debacle.
France and Russia have the most to lose from the demise of the oil-for-food programme and the lifting of sanctions. Nearly half of the Iraqi oil sold under the program was traded by Russian companies, and French companies were also active buyers.
Both countries fear they could be left out of the potential post-war oil bonanza if the United States takes charge of Iraq's oil - or an Iraqi government friendly to Washington comes to power. But Moscow and Paris also have leverage in the current negotiations: their veto power on the council.
The oil-for-food programme was started in December 1996 to offset civilian suffering under economic sanctions. Before it was suspended on March 17, the programme allowed Iraq to sell unlimited quantities of oil provided the proceeds were used to buy humanitarian goods, pay war reparations and pay for UN weapons inspections.
Prior to the war, more than 90 percent of Iraq's 24 million people survived on the food basket supplied under the oil-for-food programme. Sixty percent of the population sold part of their rations to pay for other essentials, because it was their only source of income, according to Benon Sevan, who heads the programme.
The council is united on the need for the Iraqi people to continue to receive the humanitarian goods provided under the program, but how this will happen is one of the issues the council must address.
Another contentious issue is the future of UN weapons inspections.
Russia, France, Germany and other council members insist that UN inspectors must verify the destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction before sanctions can be lifted. But the United States opposes the immediate return of UN inspectors and has deployed its own teams to search for hidden nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. - Sapa-AP
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