Iraq can buy more parts for oil industry

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Iraq can buy more parts for oil industry

United Nations (AP)

Taken from the Berkshire Eagle Newspaper, Pittsfield, MA 4/1/2000

The Security Council decided yesterday to let Iraq spend more money to repair its oil industry - an investment intended to boost the amount of food and medicine Baghdad can buy through the U.N. humanitarian program.

Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Mohammed Rashid welcomed the decision which he called a victory for Iraq. "When good insists...evil backs down, " Rashid said, speaking in Baghdad before the vote.

All 15 ambassadors voted in favor of the U.S. - sponsored resolution without comment.

Independent oil industry experts have said Iraq must rehabilitate its pumping stations if it wants to continue exporting crude throught the U.N. oil-for-food program, which lets Baghdad buy humanitarian goods using proceeds from U.N.-supervised oil sales.

Baghdad's oil industry- its main source of revenue-was targeted during the Persian Gulf War and has been decimated by nearly 10 years of sanctions.

The U.N. oil-for-food program was started in 1996 to provide for Iraqis suffering under sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

In 1998, the Security Council agreed to allow Iraq to use $300 million every six months from oil-for-food proceeds to buy spare parts. Yesterday's resolution increases the amount to $600 million over six months, and the council said it would consider renewing the amount for future six-month periods.

-- Jeanette Thomas (ou_2000@berkshire.net), April 02, 2000


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