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"Dual Use" list has been greatly criticized for including desperately needed medical
supplies. |
UNITED
NATIONS, May 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – A vote in the
Security Council that had been expected Monday, May 13, on a draft
resolution to reform the 12-year-old UN sanctions against Iraq was
delayed for 24 hours at Syria's request.
But
Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, Jeremy Greenstock, told
reporters there was no question of amending the draft, which was
co-sponsored by the five permanent members of the council.
"The
understanding in the room was very clear that it is this resolution,
and they [the Syrians] will have to choose how they vote
tomorrow," Greenstock said after closed-door consultations with
the 14 other council members, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Diplomats
earlier said they expected Syria, the only Arab member of the council,
to abstain on the vote after unsuccessfully trying to submit five
amendments to the draft.
Syria's
ambassador to the UN, Mikhail Wehbe, gave nothing of his intentions
away to reporters. "We proposed many proposals," he said,
adding that he asked for the delay "to continue my consultations
with my government."
While
a Syrian abstention would not alter the outcome of the vote, the
council tries to get a consensus whenever it can, and most of its
resolutions are adopted unanimously. Syria, a non-permanent member of
the council, has no power of veto and cannot block its activities. It
was expected to abstain on the vote.
"All
things come to those who wait; we can afford to delay 24 hours,"
the deputy U.S. ambassador, James Cunningham, said as he left the
consultations.
The
resolution is believed to free up Iraq’s ability to import
non-military goods, council diplomats said. The draft resolution,
co-sponsored by the five permanent council members, would adopt a
review list designed to prevent Baghdad from importing items with
potential military use. All military imports remain absolutely
prohibited by sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in
August 1990.
The
reforms would take effect on May 30, when the current six-month phase
of the oil-for-food program expires.
One
suggested amendment would have inserted wording into the draft
referring to Article 51 of the UN Charter, which recognizes a
country's right to defend itself in case of attack.
Iraq
has said it expects to be attacked by the United States and the
current U.S. Administration has stated blatantly that Iraq is on the
path to being attacked early next year, if not in the next few months.
The list of goods for review contains "dual-use" items such
as computers and trucks, which may be imported if the U.N. arms
inspectorate is satisfied that they will not be diverted to military
purposes.
However,
opponents to the sanctions have asserted that the “dual use” list
only seeks to prolong the sanctions and devastate an already
beleaguered population as even badly needed medical supplies are being
included on the list. Doctors, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and
human rights workers have repeatedly asserted that even cleaning
supplies needed in the hospitals, such as ammonia, are being denied
entry due to their inclusion the “dual use” list.
Items
not on the list would no longer be subject to vetting and, for the
first time in almost 12 years, Iraq would be able to import them
freely.
Last
week, the president of the Security Council, Kishore Mahbubani,
Singapore's U.N. ambassador, showed reporters a copy of the review
list, which runs to about 300 pages.
Under
a complex set of procedures annexed to the resolution, all import
contracts must be submitted to the Office of the Iraq Program (OIP),
which administers the oil-for-food program, to see whether they
contain “reviewable” items.
If
neither the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC) nor the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
object, contracts will automatically be approved after 10 days.
But
if they decide that a contract contains items that could be diverted
to military purposes, the Security Council's sanctions committee has
10 days to decide whether or not to approve it. If extra
information is required, a supplier has 90 days in which to provide
it.
The
draft resolution said the council would "conduct regularly
thorough reviews of the “review list" and adjust it if
necessary during the next phase of the oil-for-food program, which
will run to November 25.
The
procedures also specify that the $5.2 billion worth of import
contracts that have been blocked under existing procedures will be
reviewed again under the new rules.
Most
of the contracts were put on hold by Britain or the United States on
the grounds that, without U.N. arms inspectors in Iraq, the risk of
goods being diverted to the military is too great.
Council
resolutions say the sanctions will not be lifted until Iraq has
satisfied the U.N. that it has dismantled all of its weapons of mass
destruction.
Although
U.N. weapons inspectors have asserted in the past that Iraq did not
possess weapons of mass destruction, the sanctions have remained in
force, killing over 1.2 million Iraqis, over half of whom are
children, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
