IRAQ: On the eve of the resumption of weapons inspections in Iraq, another team of inspectors may be on its way out.
The United Nation's oil-for-food programme, which has employed a team of inspectors since 1996 to supervise the exchange of oil for humanitarian aid, has had its mandate extended by just nine days.
The programme may be axed altogether if agreement in the security council is not reached over a new list of items which the United States wants banned from being imported by Iraq over fears they may be used by Iraq's military.
US Ambassador John Negroponte said the additions to the list of banned items, such as communications equipment and drugs which could be used as antidotes to nerve gas, were meant to ensure that the UN oil-for-food programme was not "exploited or utilised in any way by the government of Iraq to import items for military purposes". Other additions include atropine injectors and atropine, an antidote used in the event of exposure to certain types of chemical weapon, as well as jammers, radio intercepts and global positioning equipment.
But sources at the UN reacted angrily to the US-imposed deadline of December 4th when the new list must be approved by the security council. "There is no evidence whatsoever that the oil-for-food programme has been used by the Iraqi government to equip its military," said the source. "There are already safeguards in place to ensure that the programme serves only humanitarian purposes."
An inspector for the programme at Umm Qasr port on the Persian Gulf said, "Iraq would be facing a disaster without the oil-for-food programme. There are already enough UN deadlines without imposing a new one which might jeopardise the whole programme."
The programme has provided Iraq with over €31 billion worth of food, medical supplies and water sanitation equipment since it began in 1996, in exchange for Iraqi petroleum. It has been pivotal in alleviating the humanitarian crisis inside Iraq created by the UN sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.