22 April 2003
Security Council Discusses Future of U.N. Programs In Iraq
(Negroponte says coalition will search for WMD for the time being) (1210) By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The U.N. Security Council continued discussions on a possible U.N. role in post-war Iraq April 22, holding separate meetings with the chief U.N. weapons inspector and the head of the oil-for-food program. In a surprise move, France's representative told journalists that his government would press for the immediate suspension of sanctions imposed on Iraq 12 years ago after the invasion of Kuwait, suspending them even before Iraq was certified clear of weapons of mass destruction. The oil-for food program, Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said, should be retained with some modifications for the time being. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said, "We believe that because of the dramatically changed circumstances in Iraq that sanctions should be lifted as soon as possible. So we now need to work with France and other countries to see how best that can be achieved and how quickly." Speaking with journalists after the council's private meeting with Hans Blix, chairman of the U.N. Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), Negroponte also said that during the meeting he explained to council members "the various types of activities that the coalition envisaged undertaking in terms of interviewing scientists, examining documents, going to all the different suspected sites," in an effort to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. Negroponte said he told the council that "the entire atmosphere has changed now, and hopefully this will enable Iraqis, any Iraqi who was familiar with the past activities in this sphere, to speak more freely and speak without fear of retribution." He noted that "a couple of important scientific figures have either been captured or have turned themselves in." Blix told the council that UNMOVIC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should return to Iraq in order to bring international credibility to Iraqi disarmament. However, the U.S. ambassador said that "for the time being and for the foreseeable future" the United States sees the search for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction "as being a coalition activity." "The coalition has assumed responsibility for enforcing pertinent U.N. Security Council resolutions and conducting the operation of disarming Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction," Negroponte said. It is a military operation "led and coordinated" by military personnel. Negroponte also pointed out that the council session was an "informational meeting," not a decision-making meeting, and therefore council members did not get into a detailed discussion on what might happen to UNMOVIC in the future. Arriving at his office, Blix told journalists that "the purpose of setting up of the UNMOVIC was to have an independent verification, one that was not on a leash from any government and I am sure that the council would want to persist in that attitude." Blix told the council that UNMOVIC would have to adapt its work program to take into account the findings of the coalition forces in order to corroborate any findings. "I find it entirely natural that the coalition authorities, which entered Iraq, established units devoted to the search for and identification of weapons of mass destruction and other proscribed items," he said. "In the phase of active hostilities, the finding and neutralizing of such items was evidently a matter of security. ... [T]he search for these weapons and control of them would appear to be a logical part of the operations." Blix noted that he publicly wished the coalition forces every success "in finding the truth about the weapons, which, at UNMOVIC, we have concluded could exist and which several governments are convinced do exist." "I have no doubt about the determination of these units to work objectively," he said. Nevertheless, the international community is interested in the outcome, and several Security Council decisions affecting the sanctions rest upon the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, Blix noted. U.N. resolutions require that "any destruction of proscribed items should take place under international supervision. This would seem still advisable for international credibility," Blix said. "The long-term international monitoring program envisaged by the resolutions may continue to be required to maintain a high-level of confidence in the region and the world." UNMOVIC has 85 inspectors who can be recalled for inspection work at any time, Blix said. Looters took much of UNMOVIC's equipment and office material in it's Baghdad center at the Canal Hotel, but the office could be back to limited operations within two weeks after a return of staff. Laboratories for screening chemical and biological samples could be reactivated relatively soon. The UNMOVIC chief also told the council that there had been "serious errors" in the translation of some of the interviews he had given to various news media during the course of the war. He denied that he had said that any government fabricated evidence to influence inspectors. "I have at no time suggested that the war was a foregone conclusion," Blix continued. "I have stated as my impression that U.S. patience with further inspections seemed to run out at about the same time as our Iraqi counterparts began to be proactive in proposing new investigations, supplying more explanations and names. I did not imply that there was any casual link." Blix also said that he would leave his post when his contract expires June 1 and will not consider staying on beyond that time. In a statement released at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said that "the IAEA should resume its work in Iraq as soon as possible." "The IAEA continues to be the sole organization with legal powers -- derived from both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and successive Security Council resolutions -- to verify Iraq's nuclear disarmament. We await the guidance of the council as to the modalities of our return," ElBaradei said. The IAEA has advised the coalition forces about the need for the physical protection of Iraq's declared nuclear material, and provided information about the location of radioactive sources. Benon Sevan, executive director of the U.N. Office of the Iraq Program, discussed the oil-for-food program under which Baghdad sold oil to buy humanitarian supplies under U.N. supervision. On March 28, the Security Council authorized the secretary general to make the necessary adjustments to the program in order to use the more than $10 billion in the oil-for-food program to provide emergency humanitarian aid to Iraqi civilians under current conditions for an initial period of 45 days. Now the role and future of the oil-for-food program is complicated. The program has been unable to untangle the web of contracts for a wide range of supplies that include spare parts for Iraq's oil industry and redirect them to provide food and medicine. It is expected the program will only be able to deliver a small portion of aid by the May 12 deadline set by the council resolution. Most importantly, the question of who will oversee Iraq's oil sales once production is resumed is expected to be a hotly debated issue in the council. (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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