IRAQ United States to ask U.N. to lift sanctions

France and Russia are against lifting sanctions and have their own ideas.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United States will urge the U.N. Security Council this week to lift sanctions on Iraq immediately and phase out the oil-for-food aid program over the next four months, diplomats said. But the proposal already faces opposition from Russia and France.
The resolution would also create an international advisory board -- including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- to audit how income from Iraq's oil industry is spent and ensure it is being used to benefit the Iraqi people, the council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In addition, Annan will be asked to appoint a special coordinator for Iraq to be based in Baghdad who would oversee U.N. involvement in humanitarian relief, reconstruction and building a new, democratic government, the diplomats said.
Speculation on possible coordinators was intense and included Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
President Bush, meanwhile, ordered U.S. sanctions against Iraq to be lifted Wednesday, allowing U.S. humanitarian aid and remittances to flow into Iraq.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, calling for an end to the divisive diplomatic battles that erupted before the war, said the new resolution "will unite the international community ... [and] help the people of Iraq to a better life and to build a government."
Opposition
But France and Russia oppose the immediate lifting of oil and trade sanctions and have already made rival proposals.
The United States could also face opposition from council members who want the world body to be a major player in creating an interim government for Iraq.
U.S. officials have insisted that Washington and its allies who ousted Saddam Hussein must remain in the lead on postwar Iraqi issues.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said Wednesday that rather than lifting sanctions, Moscow only wants a suspension of the embargoes on food and medicine -- suggesting that a new confrontation may be in the works.
Russia has already circulated its own draft resolution calling for Annan to run the entire oil-for-food program, including taking charge of Iraq's petroleum sales and future development of its oil fields until an internationally recognized Iraqi government comes to power.
Phasing out the oil-for-food program over four months -- as the United States now wants -- would end U.N. control over Iraq's oil revenues. The United States wants to use that money to pay for Iraq's reconstruction.
U.N. humanitarian programs that have been operating under the oil-for-food program would be ended as well, though U.N. officials already have started setting up new aid programs in Iraq. The program had been feeding up to 90 percent of Iraq's 24 million people before the war.
Russia and France, which both had lucrative contracts with Saddam's government under the oil-for-food program, have not been in a hurry to end it.
Avoiding conflict
Many council members have said they want to avoid another bruising battle and will try to find a consensus. But emotions are still raw from the bitter dispute over the war, which saw the United States, Britain and Spain backing an invasion of Iraq while France, Russia, Germany and China opposed military action.
Powell and Bush both adopted a conciliatory tone Wednesday and stressed the importance of putting aside past differences and uniting to help Iraq rebuild.
After meeting Annan, Powell referred to Germany, France, Russia and China as "our friends." In Washington, Bush said "the mood that existed before the war has changed, and people want to work together for the good of the Iraqi people."
Powell told the Foreign Policy Association's annual dinner Wednesday night that the U.S. resolution "can bring us all together to give the Iraqi people a better life and hope for a much brighter future." He received the association's medal along with Javier Solana, the European Union's security and foreign policy chief.
Under council resolutions, U.N. inspectors must certify that Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs have been eliminated along with the long-range missiles to deliver them before sanctions could be lifted.
The United States has deployed its own inspection teams to search for weapons of mass destruction and don't want U.N. inspectors to return any time soon.
In another development, coalition forces have released some 7,000 prisoners captured during the war in Iraq, defense officials said today.
Captured members of Saddam Hussein's fallen regime on the most wanted list are in U.S. custody in Baghdad capital and 500 more prisoners in a southern camp are being kept for further interrogation.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.