Iraq: Security Council approves extension of "oil-for-food" scheme through 3 July

Unanimously extending the United Nations "oil-for-food" programme for Iraq through 3 July, the Security Council today said it would use the intervening period to agree on changes to the current sanctions regime.

By today's resolution, the Council set out specific principles to guide discussions on possible changes to the sanctions regime, which has been in place since Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The text stipulates that any new arrangements must "improve significantly the flow of commodities and products to Iraq" other than arms and related materiel proscribed by earlier Council resolutions, as well as certain additional prohibited items that will be placed on a "Goods Review List" to be elaborated by the Council.

The resolution also underscored that any new arrangements must "improve the controls to prevent the sale or supply" of these prohibited items, and must serve to prevent Iraq from receiving unauthorized revenues from the sale of its oil.

The Council expressed its intension to "adopt and implement" the new arrangements for a period of 190 days beginning at 00.01 hours on 4 July 2001.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the current President of the Security Council for the month of June, Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury of Bangladesh, predicted further talks on the proposed changes. "We will continue discussion on the new arrangements that are envisaged, and we hope that these arrangements would be agreed during that stipulated period and would be applicable for a longer period of time," he said.