November 28, 2001
The United States and Russia have reached a compromise to renew the U.N. humanitarian program in Iraq for another six months, a deal that could lead to an overhaul of sanctions against the oil-rich nation next year.
The compromise hinged on Russia's agreement to approve a new list of goods that would need U.N. review before shipment to Iraq, a key feature of an earlier U.S.-British proposal to overhaul sanctions. The United States in turn agreed to Russia's long-standing demand for ``a comprehensive settlement'' of the sanctions issue -- including steps that would lead to lifting the 11-year-old military embargo.
``We are satisfied,'' Russia's U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday. ``It extends the program for six months.''
The Security Council met Wednesday morning to discuss a draft resolution incorporating the agreement. It was expected to approve a resolution before the current phase of the oil-for-food humanitarian program expires at midnight on Friday.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock called the agreement, which was also approved by the three other permanent council members -- Britain, France and China -- ``a very fair result''
``My view is it will go through roughly as drafted. There will be attempts to add things on,'' he said. ``It's come out as a draw between members of the P-5,'' the five permanent council members.
The draft calls for a six-month extension of the program, which allows Iraq to sell unlimited quantities of oil on condition that the proceeds are spent primarily on food, medicine and other humanitarian goods.
It also says the council will adopt a list of dual-use and military-related goods that would need approval from the U.N. committee monitoring sanctions against Iraq. The council must act within the next six months so the list can be put to use starting June 1.
The list was part of a U.S.-British sanction overhaul plan that would tighten the military embargo on Saddam Hussein's regime and clamp down on oil smuggling, while allowing more civilian goods into Iraq. The plan was shelved in early July, when Russia threatened a veto.
Russia, Iraq's closest ally on the Security Council and a major beneficiary of contracts to purchase Iraqi oil and to sell humanitarian supplies to Iraq, saw the list as a threat to its commercial interests.
In the compromise -- reached after high-level contacts between Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell -- Moscow agreed to adopt a list. The other 14 council members have already agreed on a common list.
The United States agreed to support Russia's call to clarify a contentious 1999 Security Council resolution that would ease sanctions in return for Baghdad's cooperation with weapons inspectors. Diplomats called it an important concession.
The United States has maintained the resolution needs no clarification, and that Baghdad must allow weapons inspectors into the country before sanctions are lifted, a demand repeated Monday by President Bush.
Iraq has rejected the 1999 resolution, insisting it has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction and would only consider allowing inspectors back into the country after sanctions are lifted.
On Wednesday, Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad al-Douri said his government has not yet decided whether to accept the draft resolution.
He said Tuesday that Baghdad would only accept a simple, six-month extension of the oil-for-food program, ``without adding anything to it.''
Bush's warning Monday has focused attention on the sanctions imposed after Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. They can only be lifted if U.N. inspectors determine that Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs have been dismantled along with its long-range missiles.
Responding to a question about possible responses to Bush's warning, al-Douri said, ``We hope that the option is a peaceful solution.'' He expressed an interest in establishing ``normal relations between Iraq and the United States.''
His comments were in sharp contrast to a statement from a government spokesman in Baghdad, quoted by the official Iraqi News Agency, who said his country wasn't afraid of U.S. threats and was prepared to defend itself.
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