BAGHDAD Iraq called Sunday for international support against proposed U.S. amendments to the UN oil-for-food accord, charging that Washington's sole aim was to keep sanctions in place indefinitely. Arab countries and all the honest and fair peoples of the world are called upon to reject and unmask these proposals which aim to perpetuate the embargo, said Al-Qadissiya newspaper. Ath-Thawra, another official daily, said the United States was trying to bypass international resolutions which it helped draw up in the first place.

Washington wants the oil-for-food deal to be made permanent, doing away with the current semi-annual reviews, according to a draft proposal submitted to the UN Security Council. The informal proposal calls for the accord, renewed three times since December 1996, to continue in force following the 180-day period (due to expire) ... for subsequent periods of 180 days. The program allows Iraq to sell a fixed amount of its crude oil to purchase humanitarian assistance, such as food and medicines.

Baghdad categorically rejected the U.S. proposal after it was submitted on Thursday, saying the UN program was originally drawn up as a provisional and exceptional measure. Iraq has been under UN sanctions since its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait. In February, the Security Council increased the amount of Iraqi oil allowed for sale from two billion to 5.2 billion dollars. The U.S. proposal would allow Iraq additional oil exports worth 300 million dollars to repair its oil producing infrastructure, which was badly damaged during the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

(AFP)