DATE=12/12/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAQ/OIL-FOOD (L)
NUMBER=2-257076
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  Iraq says it is ready to resume oil exports 
this week, after accepting a new oil-for-food program 
adopted by the U-N Security Council.  But Iraq is 
urging Security Council members to reject a draft 
resolution that would suspend economic sanctions in 
exchange for renewed weapons monitoring.  
Correspondent Scott Bobb reports from our Middle East 
Bureau in Cairo.

TEXT:  Iraqi oil officials say they are prepared to 
begin shipping oil to foreign markets by the end of 
this week, and have replenished stocks of crude at 
ports in southern Iraq and in Turkey.  The officials 
added they have begun to conclude new contracts for 
oil sales that will be submitted to the U-N sanctions 
committee.

The remarks follow Iraq's acceptance Saturday of a new 
oil-for-food program.  It allows Iraq to export five-
billion dollars' worth of oil during the next six-
months in order to import food, medicine and other 
basic goods.

Iraq suspended oil exports nearly three-weeks ago 
after rejecting two stop-gap extensions aimed at 
continuing the program while a new resolution on 
sanctions was drafted.

The Security Council has been divided for months over 
how tightly the new resolution should link an end of 
sanctions to Iraqi cooperation on disarmament.

Iraqi Trade Minister Mohamed Mahdi Saleh, reiterated 
Iraq's rejection of the latest draft resolution 
because it calls for a resumption of U-N weapons 
monitoring.

               /// SALEH ACT IN ARABIC. ///

Mr. Saleh said Iraq's position is that the inspections 
are finished because Iraq has already eliminated its 
weapons of mass destruction.

U-N weapons monitors left Iraq one-year ago, just 
before the U-S and British governments launched 
intense bombing raids against Iraqi installations.  
Iraq subsequently vowed they would never return.

Since then, Security Council members have been trying 
to forge a new approach to Iraq that would acknowledge 
international pressure to ease the suffering of the 
Iraqi people, blamed in part on the sanctions - but 
would continue monitoring to ensure Iraq does not 
rebuild its chemical and biological weapons programs.

Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Nizar Hamdoon urged 
Security Council members France and Russia to reject 
the latest draft resolution which links an easing of 
sanctions to the resumption of the U-N weapons 
inspections.

Mr. Hamdoon said the draft would not ease conditions, 
but rather imposes new restrictions, and this is 
unacceptable to Iraq.   (SIGNED)

NEB/SB/ALW/RAE




12-Dec-1999 11:33 AM EDT (12-Dec-1999 1633 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.