Global Policy Forum

By Jim Efstathiou

United Nations - Security Council members are at odds over whether or not to allow a senior UN official to brief the council next week, diplomats said Thursday.

Hans von Sponeck, the outgoing coordinator of the UN "oil-for-food" program in Iraq, said he resigned effective March 31 because the latest Security Council resolution on Iraq will fail to ease the suffering of ordinary Iraqis living under sanctions. Von Sponeck is due in New York next week. France's representative on the Iraq Sanctions Committee, a subsidiary of the council, requested Wednesday that von Sponeck brief the committee during his visit. Russia supported the request.

The UK balked, however, asking for time to refer the issue to officials in London. US and UK officials say von Sponeck has overstepped his job by speaking out publicly against sanctions. Both have pushed for his removal for months. "Is he representing the Secretary General's views or not?" asked a British official speaking on condition of anonymity. "If he's representing his own views, then he has no right to speak to the sanctions committee."

Von Sponeck is responsible for overseeing the distribution of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies through the UN "oil-for-food" program. His outspoken views have angered some UN officials in New York, who must implement the massive humanitarian program in a politically charged atmosphere.

Benon Sevan, executive director of the Office of the Iraq Program, threatened to resign last year when Secretary General Kofi Annan stood by von Sponeck, diplomats said. Sevan eventually reconsidered.

Von Sponeck's predecessor, Denis Halliday of Ireland, resigned in 1998, saying he did not want to be associated with the suffering of Iraqi civilians.

Jutta Burghardt, head of the UN World Food Program in Iraq, also cited concerns about the humanitarian situation in Iraq when she resigned this week.

"Every time von Sponeck goes to New York, he's welcome in the sanctions committee," a French official in New York said. "This time he resigned, but when he comes to New York, he will still be the UN coordinator in Baghdad."

US officials were especially critical of a report von Sponeck prepared last year on US and UK air strikes in so-called "no-fly" zones over northern and southern Iraq. In a published report, von Sponeck said he will present a fresh report on the air strikes. "It wasn't helpful last time, and he shouldn't do it this time," a US State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity said. "I get the sense that he wants to stick it to the Americans one more time."

Iraq was placed under sweeping UN trade sanctions in 1990 for its invasion of neighboring Kuwait. The council must declare Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction before it can lift the sanctions.