U.N. to discuss Iraq sanctions

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan with Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov

UNITED NATIONS -- The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are meeting to discuss relaxing sanctions against Iraq.

Ambassadors from the U.S., Britain, Russia, China and France are due to hold a joint afternoon session in New York on Monday to examine proposals on easing the sanctions, which have been in place since August 1990.

The proposals, formulated by the U.S. and Britain, involve dropping embargoes on all non-military imports to Iraq, allowing everything from whiskey to bicycles to enter the country.

Military items will continue to be banned, while all "dual-use" items -- those with a potential military application -- will require specific authorisation from a special Security Council sanctions committee.

The U.N. would continue to administer Iraq's oil revenue through an existing "oil-for-food" accord whereby proceeds of Iraqi oil sales are placed in an escrow account from which payments are made for essential consumer items.

The new proposal would not require Iraqi co-operation with U.N. weapons inspectors, who have not been allowed into the country since 1998.

Previous plans for lifting sanctions have been dependant on Baghdad submitting to U.N. arms inspections.

Nor will the proposals require strict monitoring of Iraq's borders, although there will be "close co-operation" between the U.N. and Iraq's neighbours.

Britain and the U.S. are hoping to get the new proposals accepted by the full 15-member Security Council by May 31, before the next six-month phase of the "oil-for-food" programme begins.

Neither Russia nor China, however, believe such swift adoption of the proposals will be possible.

"I am very suspicious," Russian diplomat Gennady Gatilov told Reuters.

Both countries, along with France, have long advocated the suspension of sanctions. Neither, however, think the new plan goes far enough.

"Our U.S. partners have put forth their vision, their approach," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said in Washington on Friday. "We also have our own proposals."