UN prevents medical instruments to enter Iraq

The UN on Wednesday prevented a truck loaded with medical equipment from entering Iraq. The medical instruments were bought by Baghdad in the framework of the oil-for-food agreement signed with the United Nations.

Officials in the Iraqi health sector on Wednesday said that representatives for the German Kutchna company, which has been assigned by the UN to check commodities entering Iraq by land from Jordan, prevented two trucks containing medical equipment from entering Iraq.

Most often the UN Sanctions committee obstructs or even halts the implementation of contracts signed between Iraq and foreign companies according to this agreement. But Iraqi health officials said that it is the first time that trucks loaded with medical instruments approved by the committee have been prevented from entering Iraq.

According to the agreement Baghdad is permitted to sell amounts of its oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian necessities in order to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people, who have been under tough sanctions for almost 10 years.