“An intense dialogue was underway to lift Iraq sanctions,” Zinser

UNITED NATIONS, April 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Amid what is seen as diplomatic “trade-offs” between the U.S. and anti-war camp on the role of the United Nations in post-war Iraq, the U.N. Security Council has begun tough negotiations in a bid to lift sanctions slapped on Iraq after invading Kuwait in 1990.

Council president Adolfo Zinser, Mexico's ambassador to the U.N., said an “intense dialogue” was underway since U.S. President George W. Bush challenged the world body by waging war on Iraq, Agence Fracne-Presse (AFP) reported Sunday, April 20.

Zinser said he did not expect to see detailed proposals before Tuesday, April 22, when chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix briefs the council for the first time since his team was evacuated from Iraq on March 17.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Thursday, April 17, there could be no “automatic” lifting of the sanctions, which were imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, unless U.N. arms inspectors asserted that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

A senior U.S. official told AFP this was “pretty weird” coming from Russia, the foremost advocate for lifting the crippling sanctions on humanitarian grounds before the war.

But Blix, in an interview with BBC television, said the council would want independent verification from U.N. inspectors of any findings by U.S. or British troops.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, however, expressed concern this week that the army might be accused of planting evidence if it discovered chemical or biological weapons in Iraq.

After hearing from Blix on Tuesday, the Security Council will be briefed by Benon Sevan, director of the U.N. oil-for-food programme, set up six years ago to cushion Iraqi citizens from the impact of sanctions.

The U.N. estimates that 60 percent of Iraq's 23 million people are totally dependent on the programme which enables the government to export oil under strict international controls and to import basic necessities.

Adding Insult To Injury

But the U.S. made the matter worse by deciding Sunday to send its own experts into Iraq to hunt down Baghdad's alleged weapons arsenal, complicating the tortuous diplomatic process of lifting sanctions against the war-ravaged country.

By sending 1,000 military and civilian weapons inspectors to Iraq, Washington has assumed a role that many countries believe was the domain of the U.N. weapons inspection team led by Hans Blix.

“By sending their own people, the Americans have shown that they obviously do not have the intention of seeing Hans Blix's mission resume its work. And that obviously poses a problem for us,” said a diplomatic source in Paris.

France and Russia both believe it is essential the inspections are carried out by the United Nations, or the organisation risks being relegated to playing only a secondary role in post-war Iraq.

But in conformity with international law, only the U.N. Security Council can announce the lifting of the sanctions.

The diplomatic stalemate on the lifting of sanctions is a blow to the United States after President George W. Bush on Wednesday called for the embargo to be lifted rapidly following the demise of Saddam's regime.

Washington wants the sanctions to go swiftly so the country's oil exports can resume and help pay for Iraq's post-war reconstruction.

Beyond the political question, in effect, lie the vast financial interests and commercial possibilities in Iraq, once the world's second oil exporter.

The United States has made clear that it intends to have the decisive say in shaping the political future of Iraq.

But Paris and Moscow, who both have veto wielding power at the U.N. Security Council, fear that the United Nations will lose all influence over the future of Iraq if sanctions are lifted rapidly.

Diplomatic sources said the two countries, who were ferocious opponents of the war on Saddam Hussein's regime, are concerned that an automatic lifting of the sanctions would legitimise the civil administration that the United States is now attempting to set up in Iraq.

E.U. leaders echoed the concerns on Thursday with a statement which called for the U.N. to play “a central role in the process leading towards self-government for the Iraqi people, utilizing its unique capacity and experience in post-conflict nation building.”

The sanctions involve complex banking arrangements to keep international control of Iraq's oil revenues. Conditions for lifting them include repayment of Iraq's pre-1990 debt and settling of compensation claims dating from the seven-month occupation of Kuwait.

The debt, less accrued interest, is estimated at $80 billion, of which about $30 billion  is due to Gulf States, $17 billion to Kuwait and $12 billion to Russia.

Iraq also owes $57 billion for pending contracts, such as energy and telecommunications deals, 90 percent of it to Russia.