The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
dear friends,
what are your thoughts on this latest british proposal to 'suspend
sanctions'?
-rania
On Wed, 16 Jun 1999, Harriet Griffin wrote:
> a.. UK backs end to Iraq sanctions (BBC Online)
> b.. Britain: Suspend Sanctions (Associated Press)
> c.. UN OK’s Food Distribution in Iraq (Associated Press)
> d.. Car bomb explosion in Baghdad (The Independent)
> e.. Iraq builds new oil refinery (Arabic News)
> f.. Iraqi opposition talks in Washington (BBC Online)
> ********************
>
> Wednesday, June 16, 1999 Published at 00:14 GMT 01:14 UK
>
> UK backs end to Iraq sanctions
> The British plan envisages a strict inspection regime
>
> The UK is putting forward new proposals to end the United Nations sanctions on Iraq, imposed
>following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
>
> In a significant turnaround aimed at breaking the impasse over Iraq, a draft British resolution
>at the UN Security Council sets out a timetable for withdrawing the sanctions, subject to Baghdad
>answering some questions about its weapons programme. It also calls for strict controls to prevent
>Iraq acquiring new weapons of mass destruction. The British change of position means that only the
>US is now completely opposed to lifting sanctions. France and Russia have long supported an early
>suspension of sanctions. However, a US official said the British proposal, which is co-sponsored
>by the Netherlands, is "the appropriate draft around which the Security Council can begin
>discussion". The Security Council's five permanent members - the United States, Britain, France,
>China and Russia - are scheduled to meet on Wednesday, and the full Security Council would be
>presented with the proposal before the end of the week.
>
> Clear-cut conditions
>
> Many at the UN see progress on the sanctions issue as a way of getting UN weapons insepctors back
>into Baghdad. Unscom personnel left six months ago, shortly before US and British airstrikes were
>launched to punish Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government for failing to cooperate with
>inspectors. The British draft says sanctions would only be suspended for 120 days after Iraq
>completes a set of "key remaining tasks" regarding the destruction of its weapons of mass
>destruction. After another four months, the chairman of the new Commission on Inspection and
>Monitoring and the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency would report to the
>council on whether Iraq had answered the disarmament tasks set out by inspectors. The suspension
>would then be subject to renewal every 120 days, if Iraq performed satisfactorily.
>
> Oil-for-food discussion
>
> A top UN humanitarian aide will arrive in Baghdad on Wednesday to discuss the oil-for-food deal.
>Benon Sevan, who runs the UN programme, will meet senior Iraqi government officials.
>
> Under the deal, which was extended in May for another six months, Iraq can sell $5.26 bn worth of
>oil over six months to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian needs for its people.
>
> ********************
>
> Britain: Suspend Iraq's Sanctions
>
> By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Writer, Tuesday, June 15, 1999; 6:10 p.m. EDT
>
> UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- In a significant turnaround aimed at breaking the impasse over Iraq,
>Britain is now recommending that the Security Council suspend sanctions against Iraq -- but only
>after Baghdad answers the remaining questions about its banned weapons programs. The new British
>position leaves the United States alone among permanent members of the Security Council in
>opposing the suspension or lifting of sanctions. Britain is conditioning the suspension on the
>creation of strict financial controls designed to prevent Iraq from acquiring weapons of mass
>destruction, according to a draft resolution circulated Tuesday.
>
> A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington thinks the British draft,
>cosponsored by the Netherlands, is ``the appropriate draft around which the council can begin
>discussion.'' But the official cautioned that there were still several issues that needed to be
>worked out.
>
> Russia, China and France, Iraq's allies on the council, have also proposed that sanctions be
>suspended, but haven't placed the same tough restrictions as the British draft does. Western
>diplomats note that the Russian, French and Chinese draft resolution doesn't require as much Iraqi
>compliance with inspectors or carry sufficient controls on Baghdad investing in its banned weapons
>programs.
>
> The British draft says sanctions would only be suspended for 120 days after Iraq completes a set
>of ``key remaining tasks'' regarding the destruction of its weapons of mass destruction.
>Inspectors from a commission, which would replace the U.N. Special Commission but draw heavily
>from its staff and resources, would prepare a list of those tasks 90 days after resuming
>inspections. After another four months, the chairman of the Commission on Inspection and
>Monitoring and the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency would report to the
>council on whether Iraq had answered the disarmament tasks. If Iraq has cooperated fully, and if
>financial controls were established, the council would suspend sanctions for 120 days. It would
>continue the suspension every 120 days unless inspectors report Iraq is not cooperating. As a
>preliminary inducement to Iraq, Britain proposes the council consider allowing foreign investment
>in Iraq four months after inspectors return.
>
> The Security Council's five permanent members postponed a meeting Wednesday until Thursday.
>Formal introduction of the resolution to the full 15-member council is expected Thursday or
>Friday.
>
> Inspections ground to a halt in mid-December, when the United States and Britain launched
>airstrikes to punish Iraq for what they said was its failure to cooperate with weapons inspectors.
>Iraq has said inspectors from the Special Commission, known as UNSCOM, cannot return and has
>demanded sanctions be lifted entirely. Baghdad claims it is already completely disarmed. The
>Security Council has been trying to come up with a new policy that would persuade Iraq to allow
>weapons oversight to resume while giving its people some relief from sanctions, which were imposed
>when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
>
> ********************
>
> UN OKs Food Distribution in Iraq
>
> Monday, June 14, 1999; 11:13 p.m. EDT
>
> UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan has approved Iraq's six-month plan to
>distribute goods from the U.N. oil-for-food program, but stressed that food and medicine remain a
>priority for Baghdad. Iraq submitted the distribution proposal last week, suggesting that just
>over $3 billion from U.N.-supervised oil exports be used to buy food, medicine and other
>humanitarian supplies, including $300 million for oil industry spare parts.
>
> Iraq has been barred from selling its oil on the open market since the Security Council imposed
>an oil embargo following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The Security Council launched the
>oil-for-food program in 1996 to try to care for Iraqis suffering under the sanctions. Baghdad is
>allowed to export $5.26 billion in oil over six months, but has only managed to export around $3
>billion over the past year because of low oil prices and production limits. Iraq is also allowed
>to use funds from oil sales to rebuild its infrastructure, as well as use $300 million over six
>months to buy oil industry spare parts.
>
> A group of oil experts has been in Iraq for the past week as part of the preparations for a new
>report due later this month to the Security Council on the requirements of rebuilding the oil
>industry, which was decimated by the Gulf War and nearly nine years of sanctions.
>
> ********************
>
> Bomb hits Mujahideen
> By Patrick Cockburn
>
> A second car bomb has exploded in Baghdad, wounding several people. The blast, on Monday evening,
>was close to the headquarters of the Mujahideen Khalq, the Iraqi-backed Iranian resistance
>movement.
>
> Six members of the Mujahideen were killed in the Iraqi capital last week, with a passer-by, when
>a pick-up truck packed with explosives blew up beside the bus in which they were travelling. Iraq
>and the Mujahideen, which has been based in Iraq since 1983, blamed Iran for the attack.
>
> Last week Iran fired four ground-to-ground missiles at a Mujahideen base north-east of Baghdad.
>Iranian agents have previously killed Mujahideen in Iraq, but may be increasing their attacks
>after the assasination by the Mujahideen of Lieutenant-General Ali Sayyad Shirazi, the Iranian
>deputy joint chief of staff, in Tehran in April. The Mujahideen has also been accused of helping
>to suppress dissent in Iraq.
>
> ********************
>
> Iraq builds new oil refinery
> Arabic News, Iraq, Economics, 6/15/99
>
> Iraqi dailies published on Monday reported that a new Iraqi refinery with a refining capacity of
>10,000 barrels per day is being built in the southern part of the country.
>
> The papers quoted the company's director general in the southern Iraq area, Rafed al-Dabouni, as
>saying that the refinery will be ready for work within a few months, as most of the construction
>works have been completed, adding that the refinery was linked to oil fields and to nearby storage
>facilities by a new network of pipelines.
>
> Al-Dabouni added that the refinery's products will cover the local consumption in al-Amara and
>the neighboring cities. He added that work will also cover the development of part of al-Amara oil
>field, adding that all construction work on the refinery is being carried out by local technicians
>and experts.
>
> Reports from Baghdad said that the Vietnamese Petro Vietnam is about to sign an agreement with
>Iraq to develop al-Amara oil field at a set production capacity of 80,000 barrels every day and at
>a total cost of US $300 million, following the lifting of sanctions on Iraq.
>
> ********************
>
> Wednesday, June 16, 1999 Published at 03:33 GMT 04:33 UK
> Iraqi opposition talks in Washington
>
>
> The United States is bringing together the two main Iraqi Kurdish parties in Washington today
>Wednesday, to try to et them to end their bitter rivalries. The Kurdistan Democratic Party and the
>Patriotic Union of Kurdistan agreed in Washington last September to put aside their differences
>and work towards regional elections. But the two sides have made little progress towards
>implementing the agreement and have admitted that the regional elections, proposed for next month,
>will have to be postponed. A BBC regional correspondent says the US is keen to unite various Iraqi
>opposition factions against President Saddam Hussein. She says Baghdad is strongly opposed to
>American intervention into what it regards as its internal affairs.
>
> ********************
>
>
--------
Iraq Action Coalition
http://iraqaction.org
(More than 100,000 hits)
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the
whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html