UK defends Iraq 'smart' sanctions

Saddam has rejected the sanctions plan

LONDON, England -- Britain has stressed its commitment to a clampdown on illegal Iraqi oil exports as the U.N. looks at making changes to the sanctions regime against Baghdad.

The UK, backed by the U.S., has suggested a new range of 'smart' sanctions against Iraq to replace the current oil-for-food programme.

It is intended to loosen some of the trade restrictions on Iraq while tightening the embargo on military-related sales.

It also calls for more U.N. control over Iraq's oil revenues in an attempt to curb its illegal cross-border oil trade to Turkey, Syria and Jordan which bring billions of dollars a year to the government of President Saddam Hussein.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Iraq

Iraq has threatened to pull out of the oil-for-food programme if the resolution is adopted.

The draft plan, which was given to U.N. Security Council members on Tuesday, calls for an easing of sanctions against Iraq and lifts all controls on civilian goods except those on a list of specific weapons-related materials.

The U.S. and Britain are hoping the council will vote on the plan on May 31, in time to replace the next six-month oil-for-food period, which is due to start on June 4.

But Foreign Office minister Brian Wilson told Reuters on Wednesday that London would be flexible on the timing of the vote, adding that the measures needed some refining.

"It is more a case of getting it right rather than working towards a particular deadline," he said.

"There are very positive discussions going on. There is great unanimity within the international community and the Security Council about preventing Iraq developing weapons of mass destruction," he added

"The objective is shared by all. It is simply a case of refining it."

Britain and the U.S. fear the money earned from smuggled oil could be used by Iraq to develop weapons and want its neighbours to tighten border controls.

Under the oil-for-food programme, all revenue from sales of Iraqi oil is put into a fund, which is then used to buy humanitarian aid and food for the Iraqi people.

Wilson said the aim of the new plan was to bring Iraq's oil exports under greater international scrutiny to make sure the people of Iraq benefited, and not Saddam's government.

"The intention is to make it more difficult for Iraq to develop weapons of mass destruction -- that is the imperative behind this entire policy," he explained.