PRESS BRIEFING BY CHAIRMAN OF IRAQ SANCTIONS COMMITTEE

1 August 1996

Press Briefing

19960801 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

A statement yesterday by the United States delegation that it had not yet received instructions regarding the draft expedited procedures for the implementation of resolution 986 (1995) prevented its adoption by the Security Council Committee monitoring sanctions against Iraq, Committee Chairman Tono Eitel (Germany) told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing yesterday afternoon.

Security Council resolution 986 (1995) authorized States to permit the import of up to $1 billion in Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products every 90 days to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people and asked the Committee to develop expedited procedures to implement the legislation.

The Chairman said that while two delegations told the Committee's 12 July meeting that they lacked instructions, only one had done so at yesterday's meeting. While the United States delegation had stated that it had some technical difficulties with the draft procedures, it had not been in a position to state their precise nature. Following that, other Committee members had asked the Chairman to take up the matter with the United States Permanent Representative, Madeleine K. Albright, in order to "get the cow off the ice", Mr. Eitel, said, citing an expression in German. However, he said, it would require more than his personnel intervention to persuade the United States.

Referring to the Committee's other agenda items, Mr. Eitel said that they had included a request from the United States for the Committee to investigate allegations of sanctions violations. The Committee, which had asked the United States to substantiate the charges, was awaiting further information from that country. The Committee had also considered a Spanish firm's request for the release of some of its funds that had been frozen by the sanctions. In response, the Committee had asked the firm to communicate its concerns to United States authorities because the assets were held in a United States bank. The issue of the use of coupons provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to help countries with foreign exchange difficulties buy educational materials was also considered in the context of whether or how they could be used in Iraq. Also considered by the Committee were communications from Turkey on the supply of equipment and spare parts for the repair of pipelines in Iraq and from Jordan on the shipment of goods through the port of Aqaba.

Meanwhile, he continued, the Committee had been informed that the sanctions and its resultant malnutrition had raised Iraq's infant mortality rate by more than 14 times, between May 1990 and May 1996. That and similar

information prompted Committee members to call for increased interest in implementing resolution 986 (1995) to alleviate the suffering.

Asked, in a subsequent question-and-answer session, how soon the Committee could adopt the draft expedited procedures, Mr. Eitel said he could not indicate a definite date, adding that it would depend on the information the United States would provide the Committee on its difficulties.

In response to a question as to whether the United States was stalling the procedures deliberately, he said he could not assume that was the case. Moreover, the Committee had not been told what difficulties the United States delegation now had to contend with. Previously reported technical problems had been resolved, leading to some optimism before yesterday's meeting that the draft expedited procedures would be adopted. He had been informed of the new United States difficulties just before the beginning of yesterday's meeting.

Asked when the Committee would next meet, he said that it had not been scheduled but that would depend on the workload. Any agreement on the adoption of the draft expedited procedures would lead to a Committee meeting.

In response to a question as to whether his or other delegations had expressed a sense of urgency to the Americans, given the fact that there had been delays every time the Committee met, he said that the need for urgency had been emphasized at every Committee meeting.

Replying to a question as to what would happen in the absence of an agreement, he said, "Well, I am afraid, the cow will have to remain on the ice".

Since sanctions against Libya had been flouted by some States that had argued that they were not right, would such a situation arise in relation to the sanctions on Iraq? a correspondent asked. Mr. Eitel said that such a development would not help the early adoption of the instruments needed to implement resolution 986 (1995). He recalled that the resolution had been adopted by the Council, at the initiation of the United States, to alleviate the sanctions' burden on the Iraqi population. Breaking the sanctions would not be helpful.

In response to a question as to whether the monitors and overseers related to the sale of Iraqi oil could be appointed before the adoption of the expedited procedures, Mr. Eitel said that the most urgent problems would arise after the adoption of the procedures. Those include the Committee's selection of overseers, on the recommendation of the Secretariat. Since the job descriptions of the overseers and the independent inspection agents were in the draft expedited procedures, its non-adoption prevented the recruitment of people whose jobs had not been defined. A list of prospective overseers, with

Eitel Briefing - 3 - 1 August 1996

12 or fewer names, was being drawn up by the Secretariat based on proposals from Committee's members.

Asked whether, as President of the Security Council as of 1 August, he would reverse his predecessor's decisions against releasing the report on the 1993 assassination of Burundi's President Melchior Ndadaye, Mr. Eitel said that the report had been withheld by a decision of the entire Council. Since the Council had decided to follow a particular procedure for informing members on the report, it would be up to it to decide whether to change it. Pressed further, he said that since he has not read the report, he could not brief the media about its contents. While the current procedure was right, it could be revisited, with an eye on developments in Burundi and a consideration of the impact that the report's publication could have there.

Asked how long it would take Iraq to join the oil market after the adoption of the draft expedited procedures, he said that it would take some weeks, not days, since independent inspection agents, another set of those to be involved in the process, had not been nominated.

In response to a question as to whether he was troubled by the United States' inability to describe the nature of its difficulties with the draft procedures, the Committee Chairman said he had been troubled and saddened by that situation, since resolution 986 (1995) was a humanitarian effort begun by the Americans. The emergence of new difficulties had disappointed him because he had expected the draft procedure to be adopted yesterday.

Asked about the chances for Security Council action to send a force to Burundi in August, he said that the German delegation's view was that action by the Council would depend on developments in the field. So far, the de facto regime of Pierre Buyoya had avoided massacres, which was a priority for Germany. If troops would be needed to help prevent killings, support for their deployment might be forthcoming from non-African countries.

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