Iraq Slams U.N. Oil-For-Food ProgramThe United Nations oil-for-food program has failed to alleviate the plight of the Iraqi people reeling under sanctions, Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammad Mehdi Salah said on Wednesday.Salah made the remarks during his meeting with Benon Sevan, the U.N. oil-for-food executive director who arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Tuesday, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported. The oil-for-food deal has failed to meet the humanitarian needs of Iraq, Salah said, adding that the deal has been turned into a program for covering the expenses of U.N. activities and paying reparations stemming from the 1991 Gulf War, triggered by Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Ever since late 1996 when the program was launched, the value of goods delivered to Iraq has only totalled some 7 billion U.S. dollars, while the U.N. has granted 8.6 billion dollars of compensation to victims of the 1991 Gulf War, Salah said. It has been reported that further claims amounting to 276 billion dollars are in the pipeline at the U.N. Compensation Commission in Geneva. Iraq's crude exports since 1996 have generated more than 25 billion dollars. Iraq has repeatedly accused the United States and Britain of impeding the implementation of the U.N. accord, worsening the humanitarian crisis of the country. The U.N. imposed sweeping economic and trade sanctions on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait. The sanctions will not be lifted unless U.N. arms experts declare that Iraq is free of all weapons of mass destruction. The oil-for-food program, now in its eighth phase, allows Iraq to export oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian needs. |
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