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Britain is formally introducing its new 'smart' sanctions resolution today, Tuesday 22nd May. Voices UK will be holding a demonstration outside the FCO at 1pm today ('Smart sanctions': a deadly fraud). Please come along if you can (opportunity to dress up as Robin Cook, free of charge). Best wishes, Gabriel MAY 22, 02:49 EST China in No Hurry to OK Sanctions By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iraq has rejected a British proposal to lift U.N. sanctions on civilian goods, and its two main Security Council supporters, China and Russia, indicated they're in no hurry to approve the U.S.-backed plan. Britain gave the other four veto-wielding members of the Security Council a draft of its proposals at a meeting Monday and said it would formally introduce the resolution to the full 15-member council on Tuesday. Iraq has repeatedly demanded that all sanctions be lifted immediately, and President Saddam Hussein on Monday flatly rejected the British proposal. He said on Iraqi TV that it represented a ``declaration that the embargo imposed on Iraq has failed to achieve its basic goals.'' The draft resolution would lift restrictions on all goods entering Iraq except for a list of restricted items, legalize passenger and cargo flights in and out of the country, and allow Iraq to use some of its oil money to pay its back U.N. dues. At the same time, it would keep U.N. financial control of Iraq's oil money and attempt to toughen enforcement of the decade-old arms embargo against Saddam Hussein's government and crack down on illegal Iraqi oil smuggling. The British and Americans are pushing to have the easing of sanctions incorporated into the next extension of the U.N. oil-for-food program, which was established in late 1996 to help ordinary Iraqis cope with sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The oil-for-food program allows Iraq to sell oil under strict U.N. financial controls, provided the money goes to buy food and other humanitarian supplies, repair the country's oil infrastructure, and pay Gulf War reparations to Kuwait and U.N. administrative and operational costs. ``Our hope is to be able to use the time between now and the end of this phase to get an agreement on a resolution that deals with a range of issues, not just an extension of the phase,'' acting U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham said after Monday's meeting with British, French, Russian and Chinese envoys. But China's deputy ambassador Shen Guofang told reporters there may not be enough time between now and June 3, the deadline for another six-month extension of the existing oil-for-food program. Shen said the list is highly technical and includes many restrictions. He and Russia's U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov, said they needed time to study it. French diplomats called the British proposal a step in the right direction, but also stressed the text needed careful study. Under Security Council resolutions, sanctions imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait can be lifted only after U.N. weapons inspectors declare that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been eliminated. Baghdad has barred U.N. inspectors from returning to the country for nearly 2 1/2 years. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://www.casi.org.uk