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Iraq Rejects Extension of Aid Plan
By Waiel Faleh
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, Nov. 20, 1999+ADs- 1:03 p.m. EST
BAGHDAD, Iraq +AKEAuQChALk- Iraq rejected a two-week extension of
U.N.
humanitarian aid Saturday as being too brief to be of any
help, but
did not indicate if it would stop selling oil to raise money
for food
+AKEAuQ- the keystone of the program.
Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said the
extension,
approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday, is
meaningless
from a +ACI-practical point of view as it is impossible to do
anything+ACI-
in two weeks.
The official Iraqi News Agency, which reported al-Sahhaf's
statement, did not say if that meant Iraq would stop
exporting oil.
The aid program allows Iraq to sell oil and use the revenue
to buy
food, medicine and other humanitarian goods.
The two-week extension was approved as a stopgap to give
Security
Council members time to resolve a deadlock on a wider,
comprehensive policy on Iraq. Baghdad has called for the
lifting of
U.N. economic sanctions imposed in 1990 following its
invasion of
Kuwait.
The oil-for-food program was started in December 1996,
allowing
Iraq to circumvent the sanctions to sell +ACQ-2 billion worth of
oil over
the next six months. Since then, the program has been
renewed
repeatedly for six-month periods and the value of the oil
sales was
raised to +ACQ-5.2 billion. The latest six-month phase ended
Saturday.
The United States proposed another six-month extension but
Russia
put forth major amendments to expand the program.
To avoid a confrontation, the Security Council decided to
extend
the oil-for-food program by two weeks.
+ACI-This impractical resolution aims at blackmailing others so
we
stress that Iraq, in light of these facts, cannot deal with
this
resolution,+ACI- al-Sahhaf, the foreign minister, was quoted as
saying.
He accused the United States and Britain of holding up 621
contracts for various items, ranging from food to spare
machinery
parts, worth +ACQ-807.7 million during the latest phase. +ACI-Iraq
has not
received many of the items included in the distribution
plan,+ACI- he
said.
The United States says it holds up the contracts because of
inadequate information, inability to check on the use of
equipment
that can have military use, and because of corrupt practices
by some
companies.
Iraq has regularly expressed its dissatisfaction with the
oil-for-food program, saying it perpetuates the economic
sanctions
and does little to ease the hardships of common Iraqis.
The sanctions cannot be lifted until the Security Council
certifies
that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction. But that
certification became a remote possibility after Iraq halted
U.N.
weapons inspections last December, prompting U.S. and
British
military strikes.
(C) Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
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