Iraq stops oil supply protesting UN vote

In New York, Iraqi Ambassador to the United Nations Nazir Hamdoon said exports would resume when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan approves a new plan for distribution of food and medicine to the sanctions-hit Iraqi population.

“We need the distribution plan to be approved by the Secretary-General,” he said. “And we also have to see some simultaneous action on both sides of the issue – the supplies on the one hand and the oil on the other hand.”

The third phase of the oil-for-food accord, which started in December last year, came into effect on Friday under Resolution 1143 adopted yesterday by the UN Security Council.

The accord provides for Iraq to export two billion dollars worth of oil every six months to pay for urgently needed humanitarian supplies. Hamdoon said, “We’ll do our best” to submit the Iraqi distribution plan to Annan by January 5, the date set in yesterday’s Security Council resolution.

Hamdoon’s statement appeared to signal an interruption in Iraqi oil supplies for at least one month.Iraq suspended oil supplies under the oil-for-food accord for two months from June over the approval of the distribution plan for the second phase and has accused Britain and the United States of blocking aid contracts.

Baghdad complains that it is under an obligation to export the oil within each six-month period, while the other parties to the accord are under no such obligation.

Its arguments received backing at the Security Council from Russia and France. But they were overruled by Britain and the US and the deal was renewed for another six months without amendment.

“Iraq deeply regrets that the Security Council renewed the oil-for-food deal accord without taking into consideration the need for simultaneous oil sales and distribution of food and medicines,” a Foreign Ministry official said.

“In order for that to happen, Iraq has decided not to export its crude oil for the third stage of the oil-for-food accord until the plan for the distribution of humanitarian aid is approved,” he added.

Meanwhile, the US has criticized Iraq’s halt on oil exports as “illogical” and said the move contradicted its appeals for more aid.

The State Department Spokesman James Foley said in Washington today that the US finds the Iraqi position to be “especially astonishing in view of their professed interest in meeting the humanitarian needs of their own people”.

Foley suggested that it was another ploy by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to block the UN humanitarian effort.