Britain submits plan to ease sanctions on Iraq

Britain tonight submitted its United States-backed proposal for easing Iraq sanctions to the United Nations Security Council.

The plan would allow civilian goods to flow freely into Iraq, but strictly prohibit so-called military-related items, including high-powered computers and some telecommunications equipment.

But at least two veto-wielding members of the council - China and Russia -indicated they are in no hurry to approve it.

The oil-for-food programme, an exemption to the current sanctions which allows Iraq to sell oil to earn money earmarked for humanitarian goods and other uses, expires on June 3.

It will then need to be renewed for another six-month period.

Iraq’s two main Security Council supporters, China and Russia, have said there may not be enough time between now and then to revamp the current programme to include Britain’s new proposals.

Iraq has repeatedly demanded that all sanctions be lifted immediately and President Saddam Hussein on Monday flatly rejected the British proposal. He said on Iraqi TV that it represented a ‘‘declaration that the embargo imposed on Iraq has failed to achieve its basic goals’’.

The proposal also calls for legalizing passenger and cargo flights in and out of the country and allowing Iraq to use some of its oil money to pay back its UN dues.

At the same time, it would keep UN financial control of Iraq’s oil money and attempt to toughen enforcement of the decade-old arms embargo against Saddam’s government and crack down on illegal Iraqi oil smuggling.

The oil-for-food programme, established in late 1996 to help ordinary Iraqis cope with sanctions imposed after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, allows Iraq to sell oil provided the money goes to buy food and other humanitarian supplies, repair the country’s oil infrastructure, and pay Gulf War reparations to Kuwait and UN administrative and operational costs.

Ambassadorial representatives of both China and Russia said they need time to study the latest proposals.