Asia

Asia

U.N. lifts sanctions from Saddam era

16 December 2010 17:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iraq closed another chapter on the Saddam Hussein era Wednesday when the U.N. Security Council lifted most of the sanctions that it had imposed after his invasion of Kuwait 20 years ago, APA reports quoting dallasnews.com website.
With Vice President Joe Biden serving as chairman, the council voted unanimously to lift restrictions aimed at stopping Iraq from acquiring nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. It also formally ended a notoriously mismanaged oil-for-food aid scheme that Saddam’s government had used to steal billions of dollars meant to help Iraqis survive the sanctions.
The moves were largely symbolic: Iraq is a signatory to the main international nonproliferation treaties, and its constitution bars it from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
But U.S. and Iraqi officials said the lifting of the sanctions is a statement that Iraq is finally emerging from a post-Saddam era marked by sectarian war and political crisis.
"Iraq is on the cusp of something remarkable: a stable, self-reliant nation; a just, representative and accountable government; and a positive force for peace and stability in the region," Biden said at the 15-nation council meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Iraqi officials acknowledge that they’re a long way from concluding their obligations to Kuwait, the tiny, oil-rich neighbor that Iraq briefly occupied before being ousted by U.S.-led forces in the 1991 Gulf War. Under the sanctions, 5 percent of Iraq’s oil and gas revenue is set aside to compensate Kuwait for damages, including $130 billion in lost oil production, of which about $25 billion remains to be paid.
But Iraqi officials said that Wednesday’s decision marked "the beginning of the end" of a severe sanctions regime imposed under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
"I’m personally very, very delighted," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said. "We are overwhelmed by this support, and I think this shows Iraq is coming back, truly, to its rightful place among the community of nations."