In a surprise move, France, which opposed the US invasion of Iraq, has called for an immediate suspension of UN sanctions, meeting Washington half way in its drive to get the embargoes lifted.
But France's UN ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said the UN oil-for-food program, which collects Iraq's oil revenues, should be kept under United Nations control for the time being, then phased out and adjusted to Iraq's new needs.
The United States, which wants sanctions ended immediately, hardly reacted to the French concession. It also dismissed UN Security Council resolutions that tie a final lifting of the embargoes to verification by UN arms inspectors that Iraq no longer has weapons of mass destruction.
The sanctions, imposed in August 1990 after Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait, involve embargoes on trade, financial exchanges, flights and a host of other issues.
"We should immediately suspend the sanctions," de la Sabliere said after a council meeting on Tuesday. "And about the oil-for-food program, we think there should be some adjustment to the program with a view to phasing out this program."
Aside from goodwill, the implications of the French announcement were not immediately clear.
The oil-for-food program, which puts Iraq's oil revenues in a UN fund from which civilian goods are paid for, is the heart of the sanctions and how it will be phased out is central to any reconstruction plans in post-war Iraq.
No decisions were made during two council meetings yesterday, one to hear from chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, and another to discuss the oil-for-food program.
The program needs to be renewed on June 3. Oil exports have stopped since the war began and it is unclear which Iraqi authority can sign new oil deals, prompting oil firms to delay contracts.
Benon Sevan, the UN undersecretary-general in charge of the program, told reporters that the scheme could not be eliminated quickly because 60 percent of the Iraqi people were fully dependent on food rations. "You can't cut the umbilical cord. You have to phase it out," he said.
Currently, the program is in a temporary emergency state, with Sevan authorised to operate it and get emergency food and medicine in the pipeline to Iraq quickly.
About $1 billion USD of the nearly $14 billion earmarked for civilian goods, are available for this purpose, but so far some $456 million worth of supplies can be shipped.
Sevan said he needed more time to unravel the complex contracts. The emergency program expires on May 12 and he asked the council to renew it until June 3.