12/05/1997 18:54 EST
Iraq Closes Oil Pipeline
By WAIEL FALEH
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq shut down its oil
pipeline to Turkey on Friday and said it would not
export any more fuel until the United Nations
approves a plan for distributing food bought with oil
revenues.
The action came a day after the start of the third
round of the U.N.-approved oil-for-food program,
which is subject to renewal every six months. The
halt appeared to be an attempt to draw attention to
what it considers inequities in the program and to
step up pressure on the United Nations to help
speed up food deliveries intended for its
impoverished citizens.
The Foreign Ministry said the decision to stop pumping oil was the result of faulty implementation of the oil-for-food program during the first two rounds, saying the United States had impeded the approval of contracts to purchase goods, the official Iraqi News Agency said.
''Iraq does not accept the continuation of this situation, which is unbalanced and forced by the United States on the Security Council by pressure, blackmail and lies,'' a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying.
In Washington, President Clinton returned the volley, accusing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of trying to divert international attention from the consequences of his own misrule.
''He is in no position to point the finger at anyone else in the world for the suffering of his own people,'' Clinton told reporters at the White House.
''This is about some other way that he can manipulate the
feelings of people beyond the borders of Iraq, even if he has to let innocent children die to do it so he can continue to pursue a
weapons-of-mass-destruction program.''
The Iraqi government is in charge of distributing aid in most of the country, while the United Nations does so in the Kurdish autonomous zone in the north. Each new round of the oil-for-food program requires Iraq to submit its distribution plan for U.N. approval.
Iraq is expected to submit its new plan
in early January. It accuses the United
States of using its power in the U.N.
Sanctions Committee for political
reasons, a charge Washington denies.
The program allows Iraq to sell more
than $2 billion worth of oil every six
months to buy food, medicines and
other humanitarian goods.
Iraq has been under strict economic
sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The U.N. Security Council says it will lift the sanctions when weapons experts certify that Saddam has destroyed his weapons of mass destruction.
Since the oil-for-food program began in December 1996, about 128 million barrels of oil have been shipped through Iraq's pipeline to Turkey, one of the nation's two oil conduits.
The other pipeline runs to a tanker terminal on the Persian Gulf near Kuwait. It also has been used recently, but exact shipment amounts were unclear. It was not known whether Iraq shut down that
pipeline as well Friday. |
