Indo-Iraq accord will not hit sanctions: U.K.

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON,NOV 30. Even as the India-Iraq agreement signed in New Delhi on Wednesday was seen in some circles as yet another blow to the UN sanctions against Iraq, the official British Foreign Office rejected this view. It said the agreement was consistent with the relevant UN resolution and would not weaken the embargo against Baghdad. One official said the deal appeared to be a part of the food-for-oil programme and Britain did not think there was a cause for concern.

Significantly, however, an Indian foreign office spokesman in New Delhi went to some length to clarify that it was a ``bilateral contract'' and fell outside the food-for-oil arrangement though the UN sanctions commitee would be informed. In New Delhi the view was reported to be that the agreement, envisaging import of Iraqi crude oil by India and wheat exports from India to Baghdad, did indeed amount to ``skirting'' the UN embargo.

The Guardian in a report from New Delhi said Iraq's Vice- President, Mr. Taha Yassin Ramadhan ``hailed'' the agreement as a sign that the UN embargo against Baghdad had lost its meaning. ``We shall sell oil to any country which wants to buy it'', he was quoted as saying confirming the impression that the deal tilted at the sanctions.

Meanwhile even as Britain is under pressure from what are called``moderate'' Arab countries to lift the sanctions against Iraq and some of its own European allies are finding ways to beat the embargo, the British Government has no intentions of abandoning its ``commitment'' to the UN resolution on sanctions.

Foreign Office officials say that though Britain would like to see the sanctions go it is possible only if Iraq allows the UN weapons inspectors back into the country as demanded in the UN Security Council Resolution 1284. Once Iraq fully complies with the resolution, the sanctions would be suspended within six months. ``I want to see sanctions suspended so thateverything can move forward. Iraq can move forwards, the region can move forward but the only vehicle for that is 1284'', the Foreign Office minister Mr Peter Hain recently told The Times which interpreted his remarks as implying a softening of Britain's attitude.

Foreign Office sources, however, clarified that Mr Hain had simply reiterated the official position and there was no change. The point that the Minister, they said, wanted to make was that Britain was bound by the UN security council resolution and that Iraq must cooperate in implementing it in order to pave the way for sanctions to be suspended. Mr Hain, it may be pointed out, is credited with a tough line on sanctions. He believes that it is an effective way of dealing with undemocratic regimes.

At a press conference, recently,he said after all it was thanks to international sanctions that a ``hideous'' apartheid regime in South Africa was brought down. He was critical of the ``apologists'' for Iraq, and said it was for President Saddam Hussein to act in a manner that would facilitate the suspension of sanctions. He did not think that sanctions, which have been criticised for their effect on the Iraqi people, were inconsistent with Britain's commitment to human rights .

Mr Hain, meanwhile, was quoted in The Times as saying that Britain had been making ``indirect approaches'' to Baghdad through friendly Arab coutnries which could influence President Sadat Hussein. He said he had been meeting a number of key foreign ministers in the region. ``I am hopeful that if a way can be found for Iraq's dignity to be respected while allowing the arms inspectors in, then we can see sanctions suspended within six months.''

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Section  : International
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