Iraq Slams US, Britain For Shelving ContractsThe United States and Britain have put on hold 10 more contracts that Iraq signed with foreign countries under the sixth and seventh phases of the UN oil-for- food program, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported on Thursday.Citing a trade ministry official, the INA said that the US and British delegates at the UN Sanctions Committee shelved these contracts for Iraq to import food, medicine and oil spare parts within the framework of the UN oil-for-food program. These contracts were signed between Iraq and Egyptian, Syrian, French, Italian and British companies, the INA said. The trade ministry announced on July 9 that a total of 1,989 contracts had been blocked because of obstacles set by the US and Britain. According to UN statistics released in April, the US and Britain had blocked contracts worth over 3 billion US dollars for Iraq to buy daily necessities. Iraq has repeatedly condemned the acts of the US and British delegates who represent their governments' "hostile policy" towards Iraq. Iraq has been under UN sanctions ever since its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, but the UN oil-for-food deal launched in 1996 allows Baghdad to export crude oil in return for UN-supervised imports of humanitarian supplies. Iraq says the decade-old sanctions have claimed the lives of over 1.3 million people, causing a humanitarian crisis in the country. |
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