If the UN Security Council makes any unilateral changes to Iraq's oil-for-food program, the deal will no longer be valid, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri warned Sunday, November 25. Iraq has existed under sanctions since its ill-fated invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
"Any modifications carried out without Iraq's consent will signal the program's cancellation," Sabri told AFP in an interview. "The program was an accord between Iraq and the UN secretary general and if one of the two parties wishes to modify its clauses, it must obtain the consent of the other party beforehand, Sabri added.
Iraq expects the United Nations this week to roll over the latest phase of the oil-for-food program designed to alleviate the impact of sanctions on ordinary Iraqis. But the process could be upset by Baghdad's rejection of any new British or US bid to revise the 11-year-old embargo with a revamped set of "smart" sanctions.
The Security Council in July put off indefinitely a vote on such a US-British plan after Russia threatened to use its veto and opposition from Iraq's neighbors. However, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on November 15 that the United States and Britain were studying with Russia and other nations a proposal to revise the embargo.
Iraq wants to see the United Nations renew for a new (six-month) period the oil-for-food program -- established in late 1996 -- without any changes. Iraq suspended its oil exports last June, to obstruct the last US and British bid to restructure the sanctions regime. And Sabri was confident Sunday no changes were on the immediate horizon.
"The general trend in the UN is going towards a renewal of the accord without modification," he said. "Nobody has told us until now of any modifications or amendment." Explaining his opposition to the tinkering, he added: "Logically all changes decided upon must be for the better, that is to say for the lifting of the embargo and not towards a reinforcement of the unjust sanctions regime." — (AFP, Baghdad)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
