The victory proclaimed by Iraq against US and British efforts to impose "smart" sanctions was seen in Baghdad Wednesday, July 4, as a step closer to scrapping an embargo that has crippled the once-powerful nation.
"Iraq will bury any new attempt" to maintain the embargo "through resistance and the support of its brotherly and friendly countries", boasted Ath-Thawra newspaper, mouthpiece of the ruling Baath party in Baghdad.
President Saddam Hussein, meanwhile, paid tribute to "the honorable stand adopted by Russia in the face of the evil colonialist project". Russia's objections to the US-backed British proposal for "smart" sanctions scuppered plans to unveil a retooled embargo.
As a result, the 15-member UN Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to extend the oil-for-food program in Iraq for five months, backing away from a showdown over the sanctions reform.
"The US proposal has failed and all other hostile proposals will go the same way," said the government daily Al-Jumhuriya. "The US administration must learn the consequences of this and reconsider its policy towards Iraq," warned Babel, run by Saddam's elder son, Uday.
This first reverse for US President George W. Bush's Iraq policy comes at a time when not only Russia, a strong supporter of a lifting of sanctions, but Iraq's neighbors have rallied around the embargo-struck country.
Prior to the Security Council vote, Iraq had warned neighboring countries of a cut in lucrative trade and oil links if they cooperated with smart sanctions. Egypt, Syria and Jordan duly informed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan of their opposition to the proposed revamp, a major blow to the Bush administration.
Just as galling is that more than 10 years after the 1991 Gulf War, most Arab countries have resumed contacts with Iraq, while Egypt, Syria and Tunisia have this year signed free-trade agreements.
Furthermore, dozens of Arab and European planes have landed in Baghdad since the reopening of Saddam International Airport last August, despite the embargo, which Baghdad says is responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million Iraqis.
The governments of the United States, Britain and France will "try to fabricate another proposal to impose through scheming, blackmail and pressure", Ath-Thawra predicted. "It is highly likely the United States will undertake a new measure against Iraq to confirm its domination over the world," a Western diplomat in Baghdad told AFP.
Acting US ambassador to the United Nations James Cunningham vowed Tuesday to continue efforts to impose narrower, tighter sanctions on Iraq. "It is now apparent that agreement within the (Security) council to change radically our approach to Iraq is not only desirable, but achievable," Cunningham said.
And US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "We think it's important also for Russia to consider its position and try to bring itself into line with what the other members of the council are doing."
Iraq argues that a UN oil-for-food program launched in 1996 to allow Baghdad to export oil in exchange for food and other essentials such as medicine does not meet the 22-million population's most basic needs.
Baghdad cut off its crude exports on June 4, after the Security Council rolled over the program for just one month while it considered the new set of sanctions. "The resolution adopted Tuesday by the UN Security Council is in line with Iraq's request to renew the oil-for-food humanitarian program," the diplomat posted in Baghdad told AFP. But Iraq took its time to make an announcement on a renewal of exports.
Iraq's minister of state for foreign affairs, Naji Sabri, said "the new UN Security Council resolution is still being studied ... We will announce our position according to our national interests." ― (AFP, Baghdad)
by Farouk Choukri
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
