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24 April 2003

Security Council Extends U.N. Control Over Oil-for-Food Accounts

(U.S. urges lifting of Iraq sanctions "as expeditiously as possible")
(700)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed April
24 to extend the special mandate of the Iraq Oil-for-Food program to
early June in order to use the money already in the program for
emergency aid to the Iraqi people.
"The United States supported resolution 1472 because we think it is
important to keep the flow of humanitarian items to Iraq moving," said
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte. "At this time we think that it makes
sense to make a technical adjustment to the resolution to extend the
secretary general's authority to June 3rd, which corresponds to the
end of the current phase of the Oil-for-Food program."
Resolution 1472, passed by the council March 28, gave the U.N.
secretary general authority to make changes in the Oil-for-Food
program for an initial period of 45 days, allowing him to take over
responsibility for contracts already in the pipeline in order to get
goods urgently needed into Iraq after the fall of the regime of Saddam
Hussein. That special mandate was to expire on May 12.
The new resolution, number 1476, extends the secretary general's
authority to June 3, the date that the current phase of the
Oil-for-Food program is to expire.
Benon Sevan, executive director of the U.N. Office of the Iraq
Program, asked the council for the extension to complete the
complicated task. Sevan said that under the May 12 deadline, the
program would be able to deliver only about $454.6 million worth of
goods out of the $9 billion-account.
Speaking with journalists after the vote, Ambassador Negroponte said
that "this extension will enable the secretariat to better plan for
the delivery of humanitarian goods in support of the Iraqi people.
These goods include food, medicine and medical supplies, water
purification and sanitation equipment and agricultural supplies among
other items."
In the weeks ahead the council will debate the fate of the
Oil-for-Food program, which was set up after sanctions were imposed in
1991 following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The program allowed Iraq to
sell oil under U.N. supervision to buy food, medicine, and other
humanitarian supplies for Iraqi civilians. Under the program Iraq
negotiated the contracts and was responsible for distributing the
supplies in the central and south of the country. The U.N. supervised
the distribution in the northern, Kurdish areas.
Negroponte said the fate of the Oil-for-Food program and the sanctions
regime are going to be some of the council's main issues until the
Oil-for-Food mandate ends in June.
"I can state for you very emphatically that our view is that the
sanctions should be lifted and a way should be found to do that as
expeditiously as possible," the U.S. ambassador said.
"Our desire and belief is that the sanctions program should be brought
to an end as quickly as possible in light of the totally changed
circumstances in the country of Iraq," Negroponte said. "The Iraqi
people should have access to their own resources and dispose of them
as they see fit.
"We are no longer taking about the regime of Saddam Hussein but of an
entirely new situation. So we would favor lifting those sanctions as
soon as possible. The modalities of how we get to that point is
something we're gong to be discussing in the council over the weeks."
The ambassador said the question of how the oil sales are handled and
how the humanitarian aid bought with the money remaining in the
Oil-for-Food accounts is "quite complex."
"It's something that has got to be sorted out internally within our
own government and then with coalition allies and then ultimately with
the council as a whole," Negroponte said. "So there is a process here
and I would ask you to bear with us as we work our way through this."
Earlier in the week, France suggested that the sanctions be suspended,
but it has not brought the proposal formally to the Security 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)