The United Nations has accepted Iraq's revised plan for sale of oil to fund purchase of food and medical supplies for civilians after weeks of wrangling following initial agreement on the scheme in May.
Since the agreement on Resolution 986, which allows Iraq to sell as much as $2 billion worth of oil to buy humanitarian aid, Iraq drafted a contentious plan that included purchase of oil field equipment, computers, and helicopter spare parts (OGJ, July 22, p. 21).
Iraq's motive was thought to be a wish to develop the limited oil sales agreement into a full lifting of sanctions, but the U.S. government stood firm, forcing Iraq to delete the distinctly nonhumanitarian items from its plan.
Baghdad also had to concede to U.N. insistence on its role in distributing aid to Kurds in northern Iraq opposed to President Saddam Hussein's regime.
Middle East Economic Survey said, "Barring unforeseen developments, it looks as if Iraqi oil sales contracts will shortly be in place and exports will resume in August, 6 years after U.N. sanctions were first imposed in the wake of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait."
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