Global Policy Forum

By Farouk Choukri

Iraq is pushing traditional ally Russia to block a new US attempt to enforce smart sanctions on Baghdad at the United Nations next month, warning Moscow would suffer too.

Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz issued a blunt warning before an official delegation from Moscow on Monday that Iraq would not be alone in paying the price. "The United States are attempting to revive their old project (smart sanctions) and we observe that this project will affect not only the interests of Iraq but also those of Russia," Aziz said. Russia and the United States last week reached agreement on a "clarified" single list of civilian products that Iraq would be able to import under a new UN sanctions regime that is due to come into force in June.

US negotiators said they hope the project will be approved in May when Moscow, which has moved closer to Washington in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks, takes over the UN Security Council presidency. Iraq, reeling under international economic sanctions since invading Kuwait in 1990, demands that the embargo be lifted without any conditions.

"We ask our Russian friends, be they politicians, parliamentarians or businessmen, to oppose this (US) project, which will lead to a decrease of trade between Iraq and Russia," Aziz said. Russia, which Iraq granted privileged trading status last summer for blocking a previous US bid to revise the sanctions regime, is particularly concerned that the value of Russia-Iraq contracts frozen by the United Nations has already risen to 860 million dollars (995 million euros).

"By asking Russia to oppose the US project, Iraq is not creating a burden for Russian diplomacy, but reminding Russia of its national interests," Aziz told a delegation of Russian lawmakers and businessmen who arrived Monday in Baghdad to review bilateral economic ties. Aziz stressed: "Don't expect that the total amount of contracts for the 12th phase will reach half that of the two preceding phases," of the UN oil-for-food programme which began in December 1996 and under which Baghdad exports crude to be able to import basic necessities.

The 11th phase of the scheme, an easing of the embargo to alleviate hardship for Iraqis, closes on May 30. Under phase 10, Russian compnaies signed contracts with Iraq worth two billion dollars. A Security Council resolution passed last November called for the adoption by May 30 of a goods review list designed to prevent Baghdad from importing goods with a military potential.

Iraq's Oil Minister Amr Rashid added his voice Sunday night to Aziz's, urging Russian firms "to pressure" Moscow to stop the agreement of a fixed list of goods. Rashid, who chairs the Iraq-Russia joint trade, science and culture committee, said companies should explain to Russia's foreign ministry the size of the contracts involved.

The "smart" sanctions regime would allow Iraq to import any goods apart from those with a dual civilian-military use. Russian delegation leader Yuri Shafranik, quoted by the official INA news agency, said Moscow was willing to work to lift the embargo on Iraq, which owes eight billion dollars dating back to the Soviet Union.

The three-day Russian visit was organised to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of a friendship treaty between the former Soviet Union and Iraq. Talks were expected to focus on the planned signing at the end of the month of 67 cooperation agreements in the oil, gas, transport and communications sectors.

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