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Iraq defiant
Salah Hemeid
Published in
Al-Ahram Weekly
on 31 - 05 - 2001
The Bush administration is seeking to unite the fractured Gulf war coalition behind its new "smart sanctions" regime. But some of
Iraq
's allies are stalling, writes Salah Hemeid
Britain and the
United States
are proposing to end all restrictions on civilian trade with
Iraq
, but want tougher controls on trade of goods with potential military use, according to a new draft resolution before the UN Security Council. But the proposals have split the Council, divided Middle East states and drawn strong denunciations from
Baghdad
.
Under a draft resolution to be circulated at the Security Council soon,
Iraq
will be able to trade commercial goods freely, but strict checks of anything considered to be military or weapons-related will remain.
Iraq
will also be able to resume civilian flights. If approved by the Council, the new measures may enable the
United States
to reclaim the public relations moral high ground on
Iraq
. They will not, however, end debate over penalties, nor guarantee that
Baghdad
's efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction will be thwarted.
But indications are that it will be a battle for the
United States
to have its proposals accepted.
China
and
Russia
say they reject the proposed changes to the current sanctions regime as there is not enough time to consider them before the current oil-for-food programme expires on 3 June.
Russia
, instead, called for a routine extension of the UN's existing oil-for-food programme for six months, while adding a few new elements designed to please
Iraq
.
Russia
's ambassador to the UN, Sergey Lavrov, said earlier this week that just over two weeks wasn't enough time to consider such major changes, a view supported by
China
, also a key supporter of
Baghdad
. Some sources said that the US and Britain would now seek
Russia
's support for the "smart sanctions" and would try to persuade
Russia
that their plan can work.
Meanwhile,
France
prepared to offer amendments that would bridge the competing proposals and move the powers on the Security Council closer over an issue that has long divided them. Copies of the French ideas were circulated to the other four permanent members (the
United States
,
China
, Britain and
Russia
) late last Tuesday. Each of the five council members can veto any plan.
The differing views split the five members of the council along traditional lines, with
Washington
and
London
calling for a sanctions overhaul now, while
Moscow
,
Paris
and
Beijing
say such major changes require more time than the seven working days left until the sanctions renewal date.
Middle Eastern countries are divided, too.
Jordan
and
Turkey
have informed
Kuwait
and Saudi Arabia of their support for the smart sanctions, according to sources. Press reports have suggested that King Abdullah of
Jordan
's recent visit to
Kuwait
was an opportunity for him to express
Jordan
's backing. Sources also added that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and
Egypt
will back the resolution. Sources say that
Iran
, at this point in time, would not explicitly support the US plan, but that
Iran
's general attitude indicates that it favours a termination of Saddam Hussein's regime in
Iraq
.
Iraq
, meanwhile, responded by rejecting the US-British proposals, newspapers have reported. French-proposed changes to a draft UN resolution are equally unacceptable,
Iraqi
officials said Saturday. "
Iraq
totally rejects the new French resolution, which was introduced to the Security Council," Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told the official
Iraqi
News Agency. "It looks similar to the British resolution, but with French make-up." Aziz did not elaborate, but apparently was referring to French amendments to an existing British-proposed resolution that is endorsed by the
United States
. That resolution, like the US one, calls for lifting restrictions on most civilian goods entering
Iraq
, while toughening enforcement of an arms embargo and UN control over
Iraq
's oil revenues.
Iraq
also said on Thursday that it would sever all trade ties, including oil sales, with any country that implemented the proposed British-US sanctions plan. ''If any country approves and implements the new sanctions against
Iraq
, it is only natural that
Iraq
should react by halting its trade relations, including the sale of oil, to that country," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Naji Sabri Ahmed told Reuters Television. "But we hope nearby countries will not apply this, and we are told by them that they will not."
Some in
Iraq
even threatened to abandon oil exports and annul the UN's oil-for-food programme altogether if the US-British plan is adopted.
Iraq
's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz last Wednesday said, "If the [UN] Security Council adopts the project which has been submitted, the
Iraqi
government will not sell a single barrel of oil under the oil-for-food programme." The oil-for-food programme puts proceeds from
Iraqi
oil sales in a UN account and then pays suppliers of food, medicine and many other goods.
Iraq
warned Sunday of a crisis in the world oil market if
Baghdad
interrupts its crude exports, saying Saudi Arabia is incapable of meeting the difference. "We are certain that, if
Iraq
's oil stops flowing, there will be a crisis on the world market," said Taha Hammud Mussa, secretary to the
Iraqi
Oil Ministry, quoted in Al-Ittihad newspaper. "I doubt that the Saudi kingdom could compensate for a lack of
Iraqi
oil if there were a break in exports," he continued, adding that
Iraq
's production capacity would soon be raised to 3.5 million barrels per day. But oil analysts have said the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would either officially increase output or merely "leak" more oil onto the market to keep the absence of
Iraqi
oil from increasing prices too much.
The oil-for-food programme was introduced in 1996 and allows
Baghdad
, which has been sanctioned since invading
Kuwait
in 1990, to export crude to pay importers of humanitarian supplies, war reparations and the UN for its operations in
Iraq
.
Iraq
is a member of OPEC, but has not been part of the group's quota system since the 1991 Gulf War. The sanctions-hit country can produce around three million barrels of oil per day (bpd) and has ambitions to boost output to six million bpd, but admits it needs to invest 30 billion dollars in infrastructure to do so.
Baghdad
has drawn up contracts, mainly with
Russian
and Chinese companies, to develop its oil fields, but work cannot begin until the UN lifts its embargo.
Iraq
's media, meanwhile, were defiant. The new American resolution, in all its details, "is a clear confession that the evil Zionist-American plots against
Iraq
have failed totally and that they have failed to isolate
Iraq
," the government daily, Al-Jumhuriya, said in a front-page editorial on Saturday.
Recommend this page
Related stories:
Whither
Iraq
? 12 - 18 April 2001
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