DATE=12/12/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAQ/OIL-FOOD (L)
NUMBER=2-257076
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Iraq says it is ready to resume oil exports
this week, after accepting a new oil-for-food program
adopted by the U-N Security Council. But Iraq is
urging Security Council members to reject a draft
resolution that would suspend economic sanctions in
exchange for renewed weapons monitoring.
Correspondent Scott Bobb reports from our Middle East
Bureau in Cairo.
TEXT: Iraqi oil officials say they are prepared to
begin shipping oil to foreign markets by the end of
this week, and have replenished stocks of crude at
ports in southern Iraq and in Turkey. The officials
added they have begun to conclude new contracts for
oil sales that will be submitted to the U-N sanctions
committee.
The remarks follow Iraq's acceptance Saturday of a new
oil-for-food program. It allows Iraq to export five-
billion dollars' worth of oil during the next six-
months in order to import food, medicine and other
basic goods.
Iraq suspended oil exports nearly three-weeks ago
after rejecting two stop-gap extensions aimed at
continuing the program while a new resolution on
sanctions was drafted.
The Security Council has been divided for months over
how tightly the new resolution should link an end of
sanctions to Iraqi cooperation on disarmament.
Iraqi Trade Minister Mohamed Mahdi Saleh, reiterated
Iraq's rejection of the latest draft resolution
because it calls for a resumption of U-N weapons
monitoring.
/// SALEH ACT IN ARABIC. ///
Mr. Saleh said Iraq's position is that the inspections
are finished because Iraq has already eliminated its
weapons of mass destruction.
U-N weapons monitors left Iraq one-year ago, just
before the U-S and British governments launched
intense bombing raids against Iraqi installations.
Iraq subsequently vowed they would never return.
Since then, Security Council members have been trying
to forge a new approach to Iraq that would acknowledge
international pressure to ease the suffering of the
Iraqi people, blamed in part on the sanctions - but
would continue monitoring to ensure Iraq does not
rebuild its chemical and biological weapons programs.
Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Nizar Hamdoon urged
Security Council members France and Russia to reject
the latest draft resolution which links an easing of
sanctions to the resumption of the U-N weapons
inspections.
Mr. Hamdoon said the draft would not ease conditions,
but rather imposes new restrictions, and this is
unacceptable to Iraq. (SIGNED)
NEB/SB/ALW/RAE
12-Dec-1999 11:33 AM EDT (12-Dec-1999 1633 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
