27 March 2003
U.S. Outlines Guiding Principles for Iraq's Future
(Security Council working on oil-for-food resolution) (980) By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The United States laid out its "guiding principles" for the future of Iraq during a Security Council meeting March 27 after urging the council to make the necessary adjustments to the U.N. oil-for-food program so that almost $9,000 million in humanitarian supplies can be channeled quickly to Iraqi civilians. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said that "first, we will demonstrate to the people of Iraq and the world that the United States and the coalition aspire to liberate, not to occupy. Second, Iraq must be disarmed of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons production capabilities, and the means to deliver such weapons." Negroponte said that the other principles guiding U.S. action are that Iraq must be preserved as a unified state with its territorial integrity intact and, in partnership with others, the process of economic and political reconstruction must begin to help the Iraqi people put their country on the path towards prosperity and freedom. "As the coalition acts to enforce the relevant Security Council resolutions and the international community joins together to meet the humanitarian needs of the people of Iraq, much thought has been given to the future of Iraq," the ambassador said. Concern for the safety of Iraq's people has been foremost in the minds of the coalition since hostilities began, Negroponte said. "The United States and the coalition allies will provide security to prevent chaos and retribution." The council was working on a resolution that would authorize Secretary General Kofi Annan to make the necessary adjustment so that more than $8,900 million in the oil-for-food program can be used to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of Iraqi civilians. According to U.N. officials, before hostilities began 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people depended on the oil-for-food program for 80 percent of their food each month. Annan sent a letter to the council on March 19 suggesting how the oil-for-food program, which has been operating since 1996, could be changed to meet Iraqi civilian needs in the current situation. The program is set up so that the proceeds from the sale of Iraqi oil are used to purchase food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies under U.N. supervision, along with spare parts for the oil industry. In a letter to the Security Council Annan said that the council would have to give the U.N. the authority in a resolution to review existing contracts and make changes, renegotiate with suppliers, or cancel contracts in order to meet the needs of Iraqis affected by the hostilities. The U.N. will also have to make changes in delivery routes and work with countries to adjust export procedures as well, the letter said. Under the current oil-for-food program the United Nations distributed the humanitarian supplies in the three northern Kurdish governorates while the Government of Iraq distributed the supplies in the 15 governorates in the center and south of the country. Now, the U.N. will have to distribute the supplies throughout the country, the secretary general said. The Security Council was working on a draft resolution requested by the secretary general. Council President Mamady Traore of Guinea said that he hopes the council will be able to adopt an oil-for-food resolution before his presidency ends on March 31. The discussion came at the end of a two-day debate on Iraq requested by the Arab League and the Non-Aligned Movement. The United States and other coalition members defended the use of force in the face of the Iraqi regime's 12-year defiance of Security Council cease-fire demands. Other nations denounced the war. Negroponte walked out of the council meeting after Iraq's Ambassador Mohammed Aldouri launched into his second denunciation of the United States during the debate. "I'd heard enough after a certain amount of time and I didn't hear anything new in what he had to say," the U.S. ambassador told journalists after the meeting. "And of course, I don't accept any of the kinds of allegations and preposterous propositions that he put forward." U.K. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock told the council "I am fully aware that member states, perhaps without exception, find the current situation deeply disappointing and distasteful. But they cannot set aside the clear, prolonged and universally available evidence that Iraq was repeatedly defying the United Nations in refusing complete disarmament of its (weapons of mass destruction) under the terms of successive resolutions." "The express and explicit demands of the Security Council were never carried out by Iraq; and the U.N. has not succeeded in drawing the right conclusions about the consequences of that," Greenstock said. The military action, the ambassador said, "is both legitimate and multilateral. "The use of force is authorized in the current circumstances under Security Council Resolutions 678, 687, and 1441. A broad coalition of well over 40 states is supporting this action materially or politically." Both Negroponte and Greenstock said that their governments were doing everything possible to minimize the effect of the hostilities on civilians, leave the infrastructure intact, and ensure that needed humanitarian assistance reaches the Iraqi people as quickly as possible. The United States has pre-positioned $16.3 million worth of relief supplies in the region and has contributed over $300 million in food aid and over $200 million in health and other humanitarian aid to U.N. agencies and a multitude of non-governmental organizations, including a $10 million contribution to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Negroponte said. The United Kingdom has committed $80 million to support humanitarian agencies and another $300 million for its humanitarian response, Greenstock said. The U.K. is also contributing one-fifth of the European Union contribution. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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