As the US keeps trying, Iraq rejects the UN sanctions
Iraq, Politics, 6/30/2001

The Iraqi minister of state for foreign affairs Naji Sabri on Friday expressed his country's hope that Russia will use the veto to foil a British- American project the reconsiders the sanctions imposed on Iraq.

The Iraqi daily " al-Iraq" quoted Sabri as saying that the harming resolutions for Iraq were released in a certain condition during which the US had controlled the UN Security Council.

Meantime, Iraq's Foreign Undersecretary Riyadh al-Qaisi said that Iraq's rejection of any form of the so-called smart sanctions wherever it came from, would remain a constant stand, the Iraqi News Agency reported.

Al-Qaisi added according to the report that "the U.S-British plan together with the French proposals was in fact a total confiscation of the destiny of the Iraqi state and people. Consequently, it is a battle of national independence for Iraq, whatever the sacrifices may be."

He said "the proposals were in fact an attempt to rewrite Security Council resolutions, especially those related to resolution 687 of 1991, and to take hold of Iraq's resources and control trade dealings with the neighboring countries, and to replace Security Council commitments towards Iraq concerning the lifting of embargo with an approach claimed to be humanitarian. He expressed confidence that all imperialist, Zionist and old-colonialist efforts would fail."

Al-Qaisi said "that the obligations imposed on Iraq under Security Council resolutions were too harsh and exceeded the ordinary legal limits required to restore international peace and security. Nevertheless, he added, Iraq has implemented all the commitments included in the relevant Security Council resolutions, and the provisions of the main resolution, i.e., resolution 687 of 1991, have been fully implemented in accordance with the necessary contexts."

"The Foreign Undersecretary said that the U.N Special Commission had clearly pursued a policy of obstruction, creating crises and changing work approach, focusing instead on issues irrelevant to the weapons files or to minor issues, prolonging the process through leaving many loose ends. He said U.S-British aim was evident and must be even more evident following the striking admissions made by the Special Commission members since 1998, namely, perpetuating the embargo on Iraq despite the great efforts Iraq had made to implement its commitments, the INA report said.

Meantime, A US diplomat announced in New York on Thursday that the Americans and the British are still having the hope to reach an agreement with Russia concerning their project to reconsider the sanctions imposed on Iraq.

on Friday, the US state department spokesman said that Secretary Colin Powell phoned Chinese Foreign Minister Tang on June 28th to discuss the US-UK draft resolution on Iraq. He added "Russia has decided at this time instead to propose a status quo alternative which, with a certain irony, is an alternative that has already been rejected by Iraq. So it is ironic or, indeed, paradoxical that now that we have proposed a radical shift in how the UN will deal with Iraq, this change has been opposed by a prominent member of the Security Council who has long pressed for such a change."

The US official added "So Security Council experts have been working very diligently on this and have made a lot of progress on the resolution and the goods review list, including progress during Thursday's negotiations, yesterday. So we believe that an agreement is clearly possible on the list of restricted items that the UN would review and approve before Iraq would be allowed to import them. Agreement is also possible on the resolution text itself. We think there is support for the concept of a presumption of approval for most civilian items, which are not on the goods review list, for export to Iraq. And so the talks on both the list and the resolution itself are continuing at an intense level as we approach the July 3rd deadline. And we are urging other members of the Council to work energetically to meet the Council's own deadline and keep working on this."

Previous Stories:
  Moscow rejects the US- British proposal on sanctions on Iraq   (6/29/2001)
  New American, British strikes against Iraq   (6/28/2001)
  The UN and Iraq   (6/28/2001)

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