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IRAQ: Bargaining in the Air as Security Council Talks Sanctions
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 22 (IPS) - The Bush administration's insistence that the United Nations should immediately remove sanctions against Iraq has led to a new round of diplomatic manoeuvring in the Security Council
Already displeased with Washington for its unilateral military action in Iraq, most Council members oppose lifting sanctions in the absence of verification by U.N. inspectors mandated to search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, say diplomats, but Tuesday's talks yielded some surprises.
''We know, and we recognise there are many differences, and there are sharp contrasts in points of view in the Council,'' said Adolfo Aguiliar Zinser, the Mexican ambassador who holds the Security Council presidency this month.
The Council met early this week to discuss Iraq for the first time since Mar. 20, when the United States and United Kingdom led a military assault on Iraq without U.N. sanction.
''The inspectors have to come back to Iraq, because they have the mandate of the Security Council,'' said Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov after Tuesday's closed-door meeting. ''The disarmament of Iraq is the responsibility of the inspectors.''
Russia bases its position on the argument that according to the U.N. Charter, sanctions can only be imposed and removed by the Security Council, which, in 1991, decided that Iraqi sanctions could only be lifted after verification by the U.N. inspectors.
But that verification is not something that the United States seems willing to accept as a condition for an end to the sanction regime.
''I don't want to comment on particular tactics. The coalition has assumed responsibility in Iraq,'' said U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte in response to a question about the possibility of U.N. verification. ''Because of the dramatic circumstances, sanctions should be lifted as soon as possible,'' he added.
How Washington will respond to the objections raised by Russia and others is not so clear. Last week, U.S. President George W. Bush called for ending sanctions, so that Iraq's oil revenue could be used to finance reconstruction. But some U.S. media reports have suggested the administration prefers a ''step by step'' approach rather than seeking one comprehensive resolution of the issue.
One indication that such a move is near came when France, which strongly opposed the U.S. war on Iraq, took a surprise turn by demanding that ''civilian'' sanctions on Iraq - likely meaning restrictions on non-military items - should be immediately suspended.
But in the same breath, that country's U.N. envoy also said the sanctions issue was linked by previous Security Council resolutions to a certification of disarmament in Iraq.
''So meanwhile, we could suspend the sanctions and adjust the oil for food program with an idea of its phasing out,'' French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere told reporters after the Security Council meeting Tuesday.
Under the oil for food program, the United Nations has managed the supply of humanitarian goods to Iraq's 24 million people in return for limited oil purchase from the fallen regime of Saddam Hussein. Last month, the Security Council gave U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan authority to manage the programme until Jun. 3.
The French ambassador made it clear his country would like to see the programme administered by the United Nations in the short term but ''adjusted to Iraq's current needs''.
''It's a testing bubble,'' said a U.N. official about the ambassador's remarks, suggesting the French are attempting to court Washington to go along with the international community. ''Ultimately, the U.S. will have to accept the U.N. procedures and go along with the others.''
Many perceived the French proposal as a significant shift in its position on Iraq, but the Russian ambassador disputed that, saying, ''It is not against the current procedure.'' The two countries have been staunch allies here since Washington made its clear it wanted to take military action against Iraq.
Both Russia and France, whose companies number among the top five contractors for the multi-billion-dollar oil for food programme, are unlikely to accept any U.S. attempt to use money from the oil for food scheme for its own plans in Iraq, say U.N. sources.
(END/2003)
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