In a compromise over the future of Iraqi sanctions, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council endorsed a 15.9-billion-dollar compensation claim by Kuwait, diplomats said Wednesday.
China, France and Russia agreed to waive reservations about the claim, the largest brought since Iraq's invasion and seven-month occupation of Kuwait in 1990-1991, the diplomats said.
In exchange, they said, Britain and the United States agreed to reduce the proportion of Iraq's oil revenues set aside by the United Nations into the compensation fund, from 30 percent to 25 percent.
The new rate will come into effect in the next 180-day phase of the oil-for-food program which starts on December 10.
With the price of crude oil around 31 dollars a barrel, a five-percent cut in payments to the compensation fund would release about an extra one billion dollars a year for humanitarian imports under the program.
The five permanent members agreed that the Security Council would review the deduction rate in future phases of the program, "taking into account the key elements of the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people," diplomats said – UNITED NATIONS(AFP)
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