5 - 11 July 2001
Issue No.541
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 5 - 11 July 2001 Issue No.541 |
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'Smart sanctions' on the shelf
CONFRONTED with the threat of a Russian veto, Britain and the US on Monday shelved a proposal to revamp Iraqi sanction and instead decided to extend the current UN humanitarian programme for five months without change.
Ten years of tight economic sanctions left millions of Iraqis dependent on food aid they receive from international organisations (photo: AP)
Iraqi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Naji Sabri called the indefinite postponement a "defeat for the Anglo- American policy against Iraq." The US-British proposal had called for the introduction of so-called smart sanctions, under which the UN oil-for-food programme would be modified to allow Iraq to import civilian goods more easily, while making it harder to obtain military goods.
Britain, which drafted the resolution on the plan, told Security Council members that in light of Russia's objections, the UN oil-for-food programme should be extended for five months. The council's 15 members approved the decision on Tuesday, when the last phase of the programme expired.
Babel newspaper, owned by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday, called dropping the vote a "necessary blow to rid the world of the evil of a professional thief, which steals human rights in the world" -- a reference to the United States. Other Iraqi newspapers praised Russia and some Arab countries for rejecting the draft resolution. "We have friends who helped us to foil the Anglo-American proposal and our Arab brothers also stand with us," the daily Al-Iraq said.
On June 4, Iraq cut off oil sales under the UN oil-for-food programme to protest against the US-British proposal and threatened to do the same for direct sales to neighbours who co-operated with the plan. A month ago, the United States and Britain pressured the council to extend the oil- for-food deal for 30 days only, hoping that it would gain support for its "smart sanctions" plan during this period. Russia's threat to use its veto power, however, meant that the US and Britain needed more time than they thought.
Baghdad has said it will resume exports under an unchanged oil-for-food programme, but will not restart shipments if talks on sanctions continue. "We are against linking this food-for-oil formula with any element of the malicious Anglo-American proposal, which has become a thing of the past," Sabri said.
The oil-for-food programme allows Baghdad to sell oil in order to buy a wide range of civilian supplies under UN control, easing the impact of sanctions imposed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
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