Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Peter Burleigh addresses the Security Council

December 17, 1999
Web posted at: 1:00 p.m. EST (1800 GMT)

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- After nearly a year of negotiations, the U.N. Security Council on Friday passed a resolution that will create a new arms inspection agency to monitor weapons in Iraq and suspend economic sanctions against Baghdad.

The oft-delayed and much-debated resolution was approved by a vote of 11 in favor and four abstentions. Those abstaining were France, Russia, China and Malaysia.

The new resolution will immediately lift the ceiling on the amount of oil Iraq can sell in its oil-for-food program. It also sets a mechanism for sanctions against Iraq to be suspended if Iraq cooperates with the arms inspectors. Sanctions have been in place since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

MESSAGE BOARD Situation in Iraq

ALSO Key points of the resolution Operation Desert Fox

The arms inspection program in Iraq has been inactive since December 1998.

Iraq has said repeatedly it would not accept the new resolution or anything less than an unconditional, permanent lifting of sanctions.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.