IRAQ: The people of Iraq should benefit from the reform of UN economic sanctions, according to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen.
The 15 members of the United Nations Security Council, including Ireland, have unanimously agreed a major overhaul of the sanctions regime.
Meeting at UN headquarters in New York yesterday, the Council adopted a "goods review list" aimed at easing the flow of civilian items to Iraq while maintaining bans on military supplies.
In a statement welcoming the move, Mr Cowen said the system of sanctions had been put on a new basis: "It is expected to drastically reduce the number of imports which are being held up under the present system. This should result in a major improvement in the living conditions of the Iraqi people."
He said Ireland had long held the view that the sanctions "must be designed and implemented in such a way as to inflict the minimum hardship on ordinary people".
Ireland had worked hard with other members of the Security Council to bring about the comprehensive agreement embodied in the new resolution, "in order to help the Iraqi people to recover from the long years of hardship and arrested economic development that they have suffered due to war, oppression and economic sanctions".
The Minister called on the Iraqi authorities, "in the interests of the people of Iraq", to cooperate fully with the UN in the implementation of the new system. "The Government looks forward to the day when the sanctions are lifted altogether, a matter which is entirely within the power of the Iraqi government," Mr Cowen added.
The five permanent members of the Council - the US, Russia, France, Britain and China - introduced Resolution 1409 a week ago, but the vote was delayed several times, first at Russia's request, then because of several amendments from Syria, all of which were rejected.
Responding to claims that the sanctions were harming the Iraqi people, the US and Russia negotiated for months on a system aimed at sending civilian supplies to Iraq more quickly while maintaining an embargo on military goods. Their long-term objectives are different: the US is threatening to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein while Russia, Iraq's principal ally on the Council, wants the UN sanctions suspended.
Central to the new resolution is a 300-page "goods review list" which details "dual use" items that could have military applications, from trucks to communications equipment.
These have to be evaluated within 30 days. Goods not on the list can go to Iraq after a 10-day review by UN officials.
Iraq, which wants the sanctions lifted altogether, does not believe the new plan is an improvement. The proposal was first suggested by the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, as part of a "smart sanctions" package to counter Iraq's claim that the sanctions have killed thousands of people.
Sanctions were imposed on Iraq in August 1990 after its troops invaded Kuwait.
In December 1996 the Council established an exception to the sanctions by allowing Iraq to sell its oil, worth some $10 billion a year, in order to buy food, medicine and a host of other supplies to ease the impact of the sanctions on ordinary Iraqis. The resolution renews for six months, until November 25th, the so-called oil-for food-plan. But Iraq's oil sale revenues will continue to go into a UN account out of which suppliers exporting products to Baghdad are paid.