UN Council Extends Iraq Oil-For-Food Plan

30/03/2001| IslamWeb

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday for a routine five-month extension of the ``oil-for-food'' program for Iraq after Russia threatened to veto a U.S.-British plan to revamp 11-year-old sanctions against Baghdad. (Read photo caption).
Despite Iraq's apparent victory, haggling continued until the last minute with Russia insisting all references to the U.S.-British proposals be deleted from a draft resolution before it could be adopted.
In the end the council, at the suggestion of Tunisia, included one oblique reference to discussions of the Anglo-American plan among mentions of a series of resolutions pertaining to the oil-for food program.
A vote had to be taken before the midnight expiration of the oil-for-food program, which allows Iraq to export oil and buy civilian goods under U.N. supervision to offset the impact of the sanctions imposed when Baghdad's troops invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
Iraq stopped oil sales on June 4 to protest discussions of the U.S.-British plan. It has said it would resume shipments if the oil-for-food plan were extended without any mention of the proposed sanctions overhaul, but it is expected to follow Russia's lead and resume pumping oil.
British and U.S. ambassadors immediately said they would continue fighting for their plan and criticized Russia for being alone among 15 Security Council members to reject it.
Baghdad had also threatened to stop oil flows to its neighbors, Jordan and Turkey, if they cooperated with the United States and Britain. Both countries criticized the ``smart sanctions,'' which would authorize the United Nations to monitor their trade with Iraq.
A key obstacle to suspending the sanctions is for inspectors to determine whether Baghdad still has any weapons of mass destruction. The inspectors have not been allowed to return to Iraq since they left the country in mid-December 1998, on the eve of a U.S.-British bombing raid.
PHOTO CAPTION:
The United Nations Security Council is shown voting on the oil-for-food program for Iraq at U.N. Headquarters Tuesday July 3, 2001. In a victory for Baghdad, the Security Council extended the U.N. humanitarian program for Iraq after Russia threatened to veto a U.S.-British proposal to overhaul sanctions against the oil-rich Mideast nation. (AP Photo/Osamu Honda)