The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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Summary: 1) 120 period for sanctions 'suspension' under 1284 has not yet started. 2) 'Key disarmament tasks' and OMV plan to be defined by end of March 2003. Dear all I sent out some letters 'correcting' reports in various papers which had said (roughly) 'UNMOVIC and the IAEA should draw up Iraq's key remaining disarmament tasks by the end of March.' This turns out to be correct, according to weird UNMOVIC logic (you won't believe this stuff). Para. 7 of Resolution 1284 says that this should be done 'not later than 60 days after they have both started work in Iraq'. I counted that as 60 days from 27 Nov, meaning 27 Jan. Just spoke to Ewen Buchanan of UNMOVIC and he explained that UNMOVIC are not considering the first two months of their resumed activities as 'work' as required by Resolution 1284. They were just in the 'build-up' phase. So they officially 'started work' on 27 Jan. as far as Resolution 1284 is concerned. This means the 'key disarmament tasks' are not overdue, they could be put off until 27 Mar. Mr Buchanan gave me to understand that it was an internal UNMOVIC decision to set the clocks ticking this way, 'and no member of the Security Council has challenged us on this' (not an exact direct quote). At the same time, Resolution 1441 'instructs UNMOVIC and requests the IAEA to resume inspections no later than 45 days following adoption of this resolution' which was on 8 Nov. So they had to 'resume inspections' before 23 Dec. UNMOVIC are saying that they did 'resume inspections' before 23 Dec. as far as Resolution 1441 is concerned, but that they did not 'start work' as far as Resolution 1284 is concerned until 27 Jan. 'You can accuse us of having our cake and eating it,' said Mr Buchanan to me just now. Mr Buchanan also confirmed that the Ongoing Monitoring and Verification system in Iraq is not yet 'fully operational'. First the Security Council has to approve the UNMOVIC and IAEA 'work programme' which includes 'the implementation of the reinforced system of ongoing monitoring and verification'. Then after that 'blessing' has been given, the inspectors can set up the system they have proposed, and it can become 'fully operational'. 120 days after OMV becomes 'fully operational', 'upon receipt of reports from the Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC and from the Director General of the IAEA that Iraq has cooperated in all respects', the Security Council can consider the suspension of economic sanctions on Iraq. The 'work programme' which includes both OMV and 'key disarmament tasks' has to be submitted by the end of March. So we are some way away from the possibility of suspension - I had been wondering if it could be as soon as April, if OMV were 'fully operational' some time in December. No dice. This suspension stuff could have been an argument in relation to the war/sanctions stuff. Not available. My apologies for the earlier misinformation. Best wishes Mil _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk