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]


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

UN - Iraq Articles in German Press this week




Following is my translations of two articles from the
Geman Daily Newspaper "Neues Deutschland" about the
impending UNSC vote on Iraq.
As always apologies for the translation, which I do on
the spot as I type this..


****************************
Wednesday December 15th 
Vote on Iraq postponed (by Rainer Rupp)
In order to prevent vetos by Russia and China, the
vote on the resolution to create a new Arms control
body for Iraq was postponed for 24 hours on Monday.

ALmost exactly a year ago, the USA instructed the UN
weapons inspectors UNSCOM to leave Iraq immediately.
Shortly afterwards they began, together with Great
Britain, to unilaterely subject Iraq to a bombing
campaign, supposedly to force Baghdad to cmoply with
the UN-arms control regime. Since then Iraq has
consistently resisted the return of UNSCOM because the
body had been discredited by the spying activities of
the United States.
The Irishman Dennis Halliday, until 1998 UN
Humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, has repeatedly
pointed out that the Embargo Policy has costed the
lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. Only
after the scale of the suffering could no longer be
ignored, the USA comprimised and agreed to the UN "Oil
for Food Programme", which allows Iraq to sell $5,26
billion worth of oil every 6 months.
However, three weeks ago, Baghdad stopped the export
of oil after the programme had been extended only for
one week. The USA wanted to force the other council
members to agree to the resolution they had worked out
together with the British about the setting up of the
new monitoring body UNMOVIC. Last Friday the "Oil For
Food Programme" was extended for 6 months, now the
vote on UNMOVIC is due to take place.
At first glance the draft resolution seems quite
acceptable, because Iraq is to be allowed, in 100 day
periods, to sell as much oil as it wants to, if it
cooperates with UNMOVIC. If after a year all
conditions are met, the sanctions could be lifted. For
Russia's ambassador to the UN this is a "very
ambiguous resolution" Important passages are
deliberately unspecific, so that it is not possible to
determine what exactly must be proven before sanctions
can be lifted. Despite this, the Americans are going
to great lengths to ensure that they have the Russians
"on board", because without their agreement Iraq would
not cooperate with the UN.
Many countries do not want to be dictated to by the US
any longer. They want to do business with Iraq. Only
if and when Iraq can sell unlimited amounts of oil
again will it be able to repay its debts to France and
Russia. China has also worked out some lucrative
programmes with Iraq, which can only be realised after
a lifting of the sanctions.
*******************************
Thursday 17th December New York (dpa/ND)
UN postpones decision
The UN Security Council yesterday again delayed the
decision on future UN plicy towards Iraq. The current
council president, Jeremy Greenstock, said on Tuesday
evening theat one of the 15 council members had made
an applicaiton to that effect. The council is debating
a draft resolution, presented by London and supported
by Washington, to resume Weapons inspections in Iraq.
According to the draft resolution, the UN would lift
the sanctions only after unreserved cooperation by
Iraq and only for 120 days at a time.
Russia and China intend to abstain from the vote. The
reject the British proposal, because it does not show
a clear way towards lifting the UN sanctions. Russia
wants sanctions to be lifted as soon as Iraq agrees to
a resumption of weapons inspections.
******************************
__________________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - http://mail.yahoo.de
Yahoo! Auktionen - gleich ausprobieren - http://auktionen.yahoo.de
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq
For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk
Full archive and list instructions are available from the CASI website:
http://welcome.to/casi


[Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]