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Iraq Says It Would Study Sanctions Alternative
BAGHDAD, June 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq said Saturday it was ready to study any new U.N. resolution other than a U.S.-British proposal to overhaul 11 years of international sanctions on condition it includes a total lifting of the trade and arms embargo.
"We have refused the American sanctions plan before. However, we will study any alternative solutions," Vice President, Taha Ramadan, said at the opening of a Syrian trade fair in Baghdad, western news agencies reported.
"But, I say that we will not agree to any other resolution that does not make a clear mention of lifting sanctions,'' he added.
The U.S.-backed British plan, first submitted at the U.N. Security Council May 22, would lift most restrictions on civilian goods entering Iraq while tightening enforcement of the arms embargo and plugging up lucrative Iraqi smuggling routes.
Ramadan said the plan's aim was "to hinder the development of relations between Iraq and other Arab countries," most of who have expressed reservations about the proposal, Baghdad daily reported online.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, voiced doubt Friday that a U.S.-British plan to overhaul sanctions on Iraq would be approved soon by the U.N. Security Council.
"The problem is Russia, which is holding out," Powell said.
On Friday, the United States and Britain increased pressure on Russia after four of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council agreed on key elements in revising sanctions against Iraq, news agencies reported.
Acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, James Cunningham, said that France, China, the United States and Britain reached agreement on the list of military and civilian technologies that Iraq could not freely import.
Cunningham, however, admitted that Russia had always strongly opposed the plan to revise sanctions against Iraq.
Powell said Moscow had refused to "engage" on the issue and continued to insist that its commercial interests would be harmed.
Russia remains adamantly opposed to the proposal and has threatened to veto the resolution if it comes to a vote.
Russia's decision to reject a U.S.-U.K. proposal - aimed at revamping the 11-year-old embargo - appeared to have killed off the plan.
Russia has also proposed Tuesday its own resolution that would speed up an end to sanctions.
Britain and the United States dismissed the Russian initiative as unacceptable, saying Moscow was trying to rewrite the conditions for lifting sanctions on Iraq.
Under Security Council resolutions, sanctions cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been dismantled. The United Nations would also continue to administer Iraqi oil profits.
"The Russians have strong commercial interests they feel are not protected," by the American proposal, Powell told reporters as he flew to Paris to meet Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz of Saudi Arabia.
The secretary said the Russians also had a "different view" on whether Iraq had complied with inspections of their weapons of mass destruction.
Russia and China have argued for a much leaner list than the United States has wanted.
France and Russia have also wanted to open the way for some foreign investment, particularly in Iraq's oil sector.
In the mean time, the daily Babel, owned by President Saddam Hussein's son, Odai, called on U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to adopt a "right and just'' attitude on July 3, when the current phase of the U.N. oil-for-food program expires and when the U.S.-British proposal may be considered.
Babel called the proposal "a formula that turns the United Nations into a tool in the hands of the American imperialism," western news agencies reported.
On June 1, the Security Council adopted a resolution setting July 3 as the cut-off date to reach an agreement on the U.S.-British project.
Iraq halted its U.N.-supervised oil exports June 4 to protest the one-month extension of the oil-for-food program instead of the usual six months, and give Britain and the United States more time to work on their proposal.
Diplomats in New York were, nevertheless, skeptical on chances of an agreement on the "smart sanctions" plan before a deadline of July 3.
If a draft on the revised sanctions is not passed in time, the Security Council will have to decide whether to renew the existing humanitarian program on a six-month basis as previously demanded by Baghdad.
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