US Revised Draft Resolution on Iraq Contains Few Surprises

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 16, 2003

US Revised Draft Resolution on Iraq Contains Few Surprises

The United States on Thursday presented the UN Security Council with a revised draft resolution to lift sanctions on Iraq, which contains no substantive changes.

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The United States on Thursday presented the UN Security Council with a revised draft resolution to lift sanctions on Iraq, which contains no substantive changes.

Compared with the original draft, the new version makes some clarifications on the role of the UN special coordinator and the composition of an international advisory board which would be in charge of overseeing the use of Iraq's oil revenues.

The new draft, a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua, says theUN special coordinator would participate in the international advisory board, a role not designated in the old version.

It states that members of the board shall include duly qualified representatives of the special coordinator, of the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and of some other multilateral financial bodies.

It also touches Iraq's external debt, an issue over which Russia and some other council members have expressed much concern.

The council "welcomes the readiness of international financial institutions to ... and to facilitate assistance by the broader donor community, including multilateral consideration of issues relating to Iraq's sovereign debt through appropriate international mechanisms such as the Paris Club," it says.

But the new version still calls for lifting all sanctions on Iraq except for an arms embargo and phasing out the UN-run oil-for-food program within four months.

It also asks for the council endorsement of the stay of the US-British coalition in Iraq for an initial period of 12 months, a duration that could be extended automatically unless the council decides otherwise.

The resolution still fails to clarify how the United Nations special coordinator would facilitate the political process in post-conflict Iraq, a major concern of many council members.

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