UK Proposes End To Sanctions

The United Kingdom is introducing draft resolutions to the UN Security Council calling for a conditional end to sanctions against Iraq, a "significant turnaround aimed at breaking the impasse" over UN policy on Iraq.

The UK resolution "sets out a timetable for withdrawing the sanctions, subject to Baghdad answering some questions about its weapons program." The new plan also calls for controls to prevent Iraq from acquiring new weapons. "The British change of position means that only the US is now completely opposed to lifting sanctions," the BBC reports (BBC Online, 16 Jun).

Under the UK plan, sanctions could be lifted for 120-day periods by a council vote if Iraq met certain requirements. US officials called the UK plan "a good basis for the Security Council to begin discussions." The United States "would consider suspending sanctions, but conditions for doing so would need to be spelled out in detail," and any suspension "would also need to be limited in time and renewed, depending on Iraq's actions," US officials said.

The Security Council has been "deadlocked" over Iraq policy since December, when US and UK forces unleashed airstrikes against Iraqi targets (Reuters/CNN Interactive, 15 Jun).

Sanctions Hit Ordinary Iraqis
Ever since sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990, "life for more than 22 million Iraqis ... has taken on truly Old Testament elements, from pestilence to hunger," the Washington Times reports. Easily treatable diseases like diarrhea and malaria kill children each day because no medicine is available. Most drinking water is unclean. Tuberculosis has increased five-fold since 1990, and 70% of women are anemic. This spring the United Nations issued "dire warnings" about the conditions in Iraq, but the war in Yugoslavia took the world's attention. Meanwhile, "UN sanctions grind ordinary Iraqis into dust" (Larry Kaplow, Washington Times, 16 Jun).

Return to "Stop killing the people of Iraq".

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