 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 28 January 1999 Issue No. 413 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
 |
 |
|
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 28 January 1999 Issue No. 413
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
|
|
Egypt Region International Focus Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Refugee camp Iraq
Despite initiatives, counter-initiatives, blueprints and deliberations, the UN Security Council has made little headway on how to end the crippling embargo imposed on Iraq, Indeed, today the 15 council members are more divided than ever.The diplomatic wrangling focused on whether to allow the United Nations' Special Commission (UNSCOM), which was set up following the war in order to disarm Iraq, to continue its operations in the face of Iraq's decision to ban all UN weapons inspections.
Last month, the US and Britain struck Iraq after President Saddam Hussein's government cut all ties with UNSCOM and threw its inspectors out in a further desperate efforts to force the Security Council to lift the sanctions. One of the main outcomes of the military confrontation was the debate it sparked about whether it was time to lighten the sanctions burden, while finding a way to ensure that Iraq will not be able to rebuild its huge arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
France opened the debate with a call for a new system of international arms monitoring that would replace UNSCOM. Under the proposal, the oil embargo will be lifted altogether, but with controls on revenues to make sure Baghdad doesn't use the money to rebuild its weapons programmes.
The French formula -- which was discussed by Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine with his Russian, Chinese and British counterparts before being officially tabled in the Security Council last week -- suggests that television cameras be installed in those Iraqi sites which are suspected of producing banned weapons.
China, which supports Iraq, endorsed the French initiative and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jianxuan said that the two countries, China and France, should strengthen cooperation and coordinate activities not only with the UN, but also with the world as a whole.
Later, the Russians tabled their own initiative, proposing that the Security Council lift the oil embargo on Iraq while instituting a new surveillance system to make sure Saddam doesn't buy any more weapons. The Russian proposal elaborated on the French ideas by suggesting that the sanctions be re-imposed if Iraq should try to rebuild its banned weapons arsenal.
Iraqi women train Baghdad (photo: AFP)
The United States, which wants to maintain pressure on Iraq, seemed unwilling to consider both the French and the Russian proposals. Instead, it came up with its own counter-initiative on Thursday which sought to eliminate the dollar cap on Iraqi oil exports and to allow Iraq to borrow against its frozen assets to increase revenues for humanitarian purposes. Simply put, the US plan would allow Baghdad to sell unlimited amounts of oil while keeping the controls in place, requiring that sale proceeds go towards buying food and medicine in order to be approved. Washington would also work to facilitate spare parts contract approvals to improve Iraq's oil infrastructure.
Explaining the motive behind the proposal, Deputy US Ambassador Peter Burleigh repeated American concerns that UN resolutions require Iraq to be completely disarmed before the oil embargo can be lifted. But by proposing this unlimited oil sales programme to finance supervised purchases of food, medicine and other basic humanitarian goods, it was clear Washington wanted to ensure that the money will be used for civilian needs rather than being spent on presidential palaces, security forces and weapons purchases.
To try to boost Iraq's oil exports, Washington said Friday it would release contracts it had withheld to repair Iraq's oil infrastructure. Washington also called for automatic approval for food and medicine contracts and encouraged voluntary humanitarian contributions to Iraq.
The proposals clearly point to the mounting concern that the oil embargo, while failing to achieve the UN goal of disarming Iraq, has hurt the Iraqi people.
But as the debate adjourned in the council, other members found some of the proposals "interesting and positive," but needing further time for study, as council president Celso Amorim of Brazil put it. Nevertheless, he welcomed the fact that the council was finally discussing Iraq after almost a month of near paralysis sparked by the air strikes.
Indeed, these initiatives seemed to fit well with the Saudi Arabian proposal which calls on the UN to lift the trade sanctions on Iraq while maintaining a ban on importing military and defence-related equipment.
Arab foreign ministers slated to meet in Cairo next week are expected to endorse the Saudi proposal as a means of easing the Iraqi people's suffering, and also to avert further stand-offs between Iraq, the US and Britain.
Iraq, however, has rejected the proposals, insisting that all UN trade sanctions on the country be lifted immediately. In a statement issued Sunday, Iraq's ruling Revolution Command Council made the lifting of the sanctions a precondition for restoring cooperation with the UN weapons inspectors.
As the crisis continues with no end in sight, Iraq's final position was expressed clearly by its Trade Minister Mohamed Mehdi Saleh, who said: "Iraq will not allow its people to be turned into a camp of refugees under the British and American plan."
