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Russia suggests easing Iraq`s reparations burden
Russia has floated a proposal to reduce from 30 percent to 20 percent the proportion of the proceeds from Iraq`s ``oil-for-food`` sales earmarked for reparations stemming from its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Security Council sources said.
Russia has floated a proposal to reduce from 30 percent to 20 percent the proportion of the proceeds from Iraq's ''oil-for-food'' sales earmarked for reparations stemming from its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Security Council sources said.
Russian UN envoy Sergei Lavrov was also said to have urged, during closed-door council consultations, a review by the council of the operations of the Geneva-based UN compensation commission, which reviews and pays out claims for reparations.
Under the UN ''oil-for-food program'' that began in December 1996 Baghdad is allowed to sell unlimited quantities of oil to buy food, medicine and other civilian necessities to help offset the effects on ordinary Iraqis of sanctions imposed after its invasion of Kuwait.
Since the start of the programme, 30 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of Iraqi oil is automatically siphoned off into the UN-administered reparations fund.
Lesser amounts are used to administer the ''oil-for-food program'' and to meet other costs related to the Gulf War. This includes scrapping Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction, though UN arms inspectors have been barred from Iraq for nearly two years.
The council sources on Wednesday said Lavrov raised the reparations issue informally in challenging a $ 21.5 billion claim by Kuwait for lost oil production and sales during Iraq's invasion and seven-month occupation of the emirate.
Under the UN ''oil-for-food program'' that began in December 1996 Baghdad is allowed to sell unlimited quantities of oil to buy food, medicine and other civilian necessities to help offset the effects on ordinary Iraqis of sanctions imposed after its invasion of Kuwait.
Since the start of the programme, 30 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of Iraqi oil is automatically siphoned off into the UN-administered reparations fund.
Lesser amounts are used to administer the ''oil-for-food program'' and to meet other costs related to the Gulf War. This includes scrapping Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction, though UN arms inspectors have been barred from Iraq for nearly two years.
The council sources on Wednesday said Lavrov raised the reparations issue informally in challenging a $ 21.5 billion claim by Kuwait for lost oil production and sales during Iraq's invasion and seven-month occupation of the emirate.
Bureau Report