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Iraq: U.N. Official Visits to Discuss Oil-for-Food Benon Sevan, executive director of the U.N. oil-for-food program, was scheduled to begin a visit to Iraq today to discuss the program with U.N. and Iraqi officials. The trip is his first to Baghdad since August 2000. The oil-for-food program allows Iraq to buy food, medicine and certain civilian goods with oil revenues during U.N. sanctions designed to persuade Iraq to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction. U.N. officials expected Sevan would discuss Iraq’s refusal to issue visas to U.N. staff and to firms the United Nations employs for clearing mines in northern Iraq. Sevan was also expected to discuss how to spend funds to pay workers’ salaries for upgrading Iraqi’s oil industry equipment. However, Sevan’s visit was not intended to address any “specific issue,” said Sevan’s spokeswoman Hasmik Egian. “He reviews the status of implementation of the program with U.N. agencies and Iraqi government officials,” she said. The U.N. Security Council’s Iraqi sanctions committee has the authority to block sales of goods to Iraq if a member believes the goods could have a military use. Sevan criticized the United States last week for blocking almost $5 billion in sales. Russia agreed with the United States (see GSN, Jan. 11) and other council members in November to negotiate a goods review list that would detail which goods would need committee approval for Iraq to import them (Reuters, Jan. 13). Iraqi Paper Criticizes Program Meanwhile, Iraq’s ruling Baath party’s newspaper al-Thawra today said the oil-for-food program is “evil” and “no substitute for the complete lifting of the unjust embargo” against Iraq. Iraq would “not accept the memorandum [of understanding] forever,” the paper said. Iraq has received only $15 billion worth of goods since December 1996, although it had sold $50 billion worth of oil, the paper said. “The U.N. cuts from the revenues have exceeded $18 billion, devoted to cover the costs of the U.N. staff who serve in the Iraqi program, weapons inspectors and the equipment used to destroy Iraq’s weapons and factories,” al-Thawra said. Iraq received only $10 for each Iraqi each month under the program — not enough to “cover basic necessities,” the paper said (Reuters/MSNBC.com, Jan. 14).
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