DUBAI, March 1: Iraq has rejected a United States-inspired draft resolution in the United Nations, warning Baghdad of severe punishment if it did not comply with the agreement to throw open Presidential sites to UN weapons inspectors.Oil Minister General Amir Rasheed said the draft resolution introduced by Britain was "unnecessary" as the accord just concluded with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was fool proof. "It is totally unnecessary to have any Security Council resolution to back the Memorandum Of Understanding reached by us," General Rasheed said in Baghdad yesterday, adding that the deal with Annan needed no further ratification. The British resolution, backed by Japan, was opposed by other permanent members of the Security Council like France, Russia and China, who did not favour any further resolutions against Iraq. Rasheed said that the forthcoming weapons inspections by UN diplomats will prove that Presidential sites are not used to conceal weapons of mass destruction, as claimed by the US andBritain.About the UN permission given to Iraq to sell more oil, Rasheed said that Iraq would not be able to realise the increased target as oil facilities in the country were in a state of disrepair. He said that Baghdad would need billions of dollars to put these facilities back to work. Iraq has demanded that the country be allowed to import large quantities of spare parts for repairing the oil facilities.
