September 30, 1999
The Secretary-General's report to the Security Council on Libya's compliance with the provisions of relevant Council resolutions, presented three months after the suspension of sanctions, had led to only one conclusion -- that Libya had fulfilled all its obligations under the Council resolutions, the Permanent Representative of Libya told the General Assembly this afternoon as it continued it general debate.
Yet, after consideration of the report, the Council had been unable to lift the sanctions against his country because of the intransigence of the United States, a country which was party to the dispute, he went on to say. That country has threatened to use the veto and that could only be considered as reneging on previous commitments. He demanded that the Council adopt a resolution immediately that would completely lift the sanctions imposed on Libya.
While several speakers emphasized the need to stop the suffering of the Iraqi people by lifting economic sanctions against that country, Nizar Obaid Madani, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, said that the Iraqi Government had not responded to Arab and international proposals in a way which would help to move matters in the right direction. The Council itself was unable to take action on the matter due to the lack of common vision among the permanent members. Iraq should fully implement all international resolutions and cooperate seriously with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the release of all prisoners and detainees and restoration of Kuwaiti properties. It should also refrain from all provocative and aggressive acts against Kuwait and other neighbouring countries.
Also addressing the issue of sanctions, George W. Odlum, Foreign Minister of Saint Lucia, noted that the emergence of Cuba as a vital and creative force in the integration and development of the Caribbean was frustrated by the inability of the United Nations to muster the political will to remove the inhuman sanctions imposed by the United States on the Cuban people. "The totally callous disregard for the cumulative will of this Assembly is the touchstone which characterizes the relationship between the super-Power leviathan and the 187 Lilliputian nations that talk and vote in this forum, he said.
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