UNITED NATIONS: IRAQ CALLS FOR AN "OIL-FOR-FOOD" DEAL AFTER COMPLETING UNITED NATIONS CONDITIIONS OVER SANCTIONS

Record ID: 338265

  • Title: UNITED NATIONS: IRAQ CALLS FOR AN "OIL-FOR-FOOD" DEAL AFTER COMPLETING UNITED NATIONS CONDITIIONS OVER SANCTIONS
  • Date: 25th November 1996
  • Summary: UNITED NATIONS (NOVEMBER 25, 1996) (RTV (A) / RTV - ACCESS ALL) (RTV (A) 1. SLV UNITED NATIONS SPOKESWOMAN SYLVANA FAO WALKING INTO PRESS CONFERENCE 0.06 2. SCU FAO SAYING, "IRAQ IS SATISFIED WITH THE POSITION, IRAQ AGREES WITH SECRETARIATE" (ENGLISH) 0.24 3. MV IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS NIZAR HAMDOON SAYING IRAQ SHOULD START PUMPING OIL IN DECEMBER, THE ONLY OBSTACLE IS THE PRICING FORMULA (ENGLISH) 0.58 (RTV) 4. MV US AMBASSADOR MADELEINE ALBRIGHT ARRIVING 1.01 5. SCU ALBRIGHT SAYING, "THIS IS SOMETHING THE UNITED STATES WANTED ORIGINALLY. THE IRAQIS HAVE QUESTIONED THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AND APPROVED IT TODAY. AS THE PRICING MECHANISM GOES TO THE SANCTIONS COMMITTEE WE EXPECT TO ACT POSITIVELY ON THAT ONCE WE HEAR FROM THE OIL OVERSEERS WHAT IT IS. THIS IS GOOD NEWS FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ AND IT'S GOOD NEWS FOR US BECAUSE IT IS SOMETHING THAT WE WANTED (ENGLISH) 1.41 6. MV ALBRIGHT LEAVING 1.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 10th December 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: UNITED NATIONS
  • Reuters ID: LVA5V2M4GF6BHT1906Y3HZOX6AKK
  • Story Text: INTRO: - Baghdad said it had fulfilled all the conditions demanded by the United Nations, and called for an "oil-for-food" deal to begin after repeated blocking.

    The United Nations (U.N.) said on Monday (November 25) that Iraq had agreed all U.N. conditions that had held up implementation of an "oil for food" deal.

    U.N. spokeswoman Sylvana Foa confirmed that "Iraq agrees with the views of the U.N. secretariat on the modalities of implementation" of the oil deal and quoted Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali as saying: "I am optimistic we will have movement within the next few weeks." Iraqi United Nations (U.N.) Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon predicted oil could start flowing in December.

    He was speaking to reporters after a meeting with Undersecretary-General Chinmaya Gharekhan, who heads a U.N. task force overseeing the deal, which would permit the sale of 2 billion United States (U.S.) dollars-worth of Iraqi oil over six months, on a renewable basis.

    One remaining step is for the U.N. Security Council's Iraqi sanctions committee to approve an oil pricing formula governing future oil contracts.

    Iraq last week submitted a formula for December to U.N. oil overseers who were to pass it on to the sanctions committee later on Monday with their observations.

    The United States delayed committee approval of formulas for previous months, saying other problems must first be worked out.

    Asked about prospects for approval now, in light of Iraq's acceptance of U.N. terms, deputy United States U.N. representative Edward Gnhem told Reuters: "I don't think there will be a problem." One of the sticking points in the past has been a reluctance by Baghdad to allow U.N. observers to travel where they wanted in Iraq. But Hamdoon said that United Nations observers supervising the oil-for-food agreement would have "full freedom in their work." Hamdoon said he thought the Iraqi people could begin receiving humanitarian supplies, long denied them under the six-year-old embargo, within a few weeks after the oil begins to flow. He called the agreement a first step toward the U.N. Security Council permanently lifting its trade sanctions agains Iraq.

    The "oil-for-food" deal was concluded between Iraq and the United Nations in May but delayed due to differences over how it should be carried out, was to help ease the effects on ordinary Iraqis of crippling economic sanctions imposed soon after President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

    United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, said the U.S. expected to act positively when the pricing mechanism came before the U.N. sanctions committee. She said it was good news for the people of Iraq and something that the United States had always wanted.

    Hardship and death have been caused in Iraq over the years that the U.N. sanctions have been in place, with more suffering caused by the failure to implement the "oil-for-food" programme.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register