News Analyses: Iraq Reluctant at Piecemeal 'Oil-for-Food' Program

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 15, 2002

News Analyses: Iraq Reluctant at Piecemeal 'Oil-for-Food' Program

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Given an approval of extension of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1409, Baghdad reluctantly accepted the love-hate renewal of U.N. "oil-for-food" program, with the U.S. imposed Goods Review Lists attached to it.

The council on Tuesday adopted the resolution extending the " oil for food" program by six months, with the enforcement of a finalized Goods Review List (GRL) and the attached procedures for its application. However, Baghdad has no reason for joy because a lot of conditions are attached to the deal wrung from difficult negotiations.

Moreover, the 160-page GRL is hard-won. The document had been bargained item by item for months by Russia, France, China, the United States and Britain, at diplomatic and expert levels, before finally reached the council table.

GRL contains items that may have dual military and civilian use and would have to be approved by the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), the U.N. Office of Iraq Program (OIP) or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), separately or jointly.

"At core of the procedure is the item states that if OIP, IAEA or UNMOVIC failed to finish reviewing any import contract within 10 wording days, the contract would automatically take into effect, " a diplomat told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Under a paralleled item balancing it, the supervising offices have rights to request Iraqi importers to clarify their contracts, the contracts then go into another 10-working-day period, according to the diplomat.

"The supervisors can keep asking, nobody can prevent them from doing so," he noted.

However, Baghad's main foe, the U.S., did not win the game overwhelmingly. Under intense protests from Baghdad's neighbors, most of its proposals related with the "smart sanctions," such as monitoring Iraq's borders against oil smuggling, were dropped.

"Any way, this is a very complicated mechanism. Whether it would lead to a eased or prolonged sanctions against Iraq, we will have to wait and see," he said.

The U.S. introduced a revised sanctions regime against Iraq last November. The scheme, slammed by Iraqis as "smart sanctions," was designed "to allow a freer flow of goods that help ordinary Iraqis, while preventing Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction," according to U.S. diplomats.

Baghdad has been longing for a suspension, if not an ending, of the 12-year-old sanctions.

Iraqi U.N. Ambassador Mohammed Aldouri said earlier in an interview with Xinhua that the "smart sanctions" was an attempt to prolong the inhuman sanctions which killed thousands of innocent Iraqis.

"The sanctions were under fire both domestically and internationally," he noted.

Iraq has been under sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. But it has been allowed to sell oil for food and medicine under the U.N. "oil for food" program introduced in 1996.

The council in last November adopted resolution 1382 extending the program by six months. It decided to adopt the GRL and the procedures of its application, subject to any refinements by the council in light of further consultations, for implementation beginning on June 1.

As a compensation to Iraqi allies, the council reaffirmed its commitment to a comprehensive settlement on the basis of relevant council resolutions, including any clarification necessary for the implementation of resolution 1284.

Resolution 1284, adopted on December 17, 1999, stated that the sanctions against Iraq could be "suspended" if Baghdad proved to be cooperative with U.N. weapon inspectors.

Though both Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix and IAEA Director- General Mohammed ElBarade said that the sanctions could be suspended if the world body could get all needed cooperation, the hope is a dim for a real suspension in view of the strong U.S. opposition.

Talks have spread far and wide on an intention of the Bush administration to launch an overall military strike against Baghdad to ouster Saddam Hussein. Even if no military onslaught is actually delivered, analysts generally believe the U.S. will not change its stance to contain Iraq, which it dubbed as part of an " axis of evil."

Therefore, the difficult years for Iraq to tie over still look endless, at least for the foreseeable future.

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