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Iraq accuses United Nations of mishandling oil-for-food revenues |
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June 11, 2000
BAGHDAD, JUNE 10 (AP) - Iraq accused the United Nations Saturday of mismanaging billions of dollars in revenues from the oil-for-food program, saying the money could have been well spent combating a severe drought in the country.
Addressing a news conference, Deputy Agriculture Minister Basil al-Dalali spoke of the government's frustration at not having access to the money when "Iraq needs badly many things related to its economy."
The oil-for-food program allows Iraq to circumvent U.N. economic sanctions and sell oil under U.N. supervision. However, the money earned has to be deposited in an escrow account in a French bank, and can only be used to buy food and humanitarian goods after every contract has been approved by the U.N. sanctions committee. Al-Dalali said Iraq has more than dlrs 7 billion in the escrow account, but "the money is frozen."
"It is a new obstacle added to other obstacles we are facing," he said. Al-Dalali did not elaborate on why he believed the money was frozen, but it was an apparent reference to the U.N. sanctions committee rejecting or putting on hold many contracts.
Iraq has in the past often accused the United States and Britain, who dominate the sanctions committee, of creating hurdles for contracts. The two countries say they only are trying to ensure that the goods Iraq buys cannot be used for military purposes.
"Contracts are still on hold while our suffering is on the increase," said al-Dalali. Iraqi officials and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization have said that Iraq last year lost 70 percent of its crops in the country's breadbasket due to the drought.
No forecasts were available for this year's drought, which al-Dalali said was of a magnitude not experienced in a century. U.N. relief officials predict that the drought will have a devastating impact on animals, crops and the country's power-generating capacity.
Al-Dalali said that the sanctions committee allows importing poultry but blocks the importation of animal vaccines. The sanctions, imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, cannot be lifted until the U.N. Security Council certifies that the country has rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and the means to make them.
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