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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (6615)	6/22/1999 10:40:00 AM
From: Zardoz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82042

what's your read on the average production cost for an ounce of gold with current technology? Brits To Introduce Iraq Resolution By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer dailynews.yahoo.com UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Despite opposition from some Security Council members, Britain is preparing to introduce a resolution that would suspend the oil embargo on Iraq if Baghdad answers the remaining questions about its weapons programs. Western diplomats said the measure could be introduced as early as today. That would pave the way for the first substantial discussion on a new Iraq policy in months, but the 15-member council remains seriously divided and Iraq has said the British proposal is unacceptable. The Security Council has been deadlocked on Iraq since the United States and Britain launched air strikes in mid-December over Baghdad's refusal to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors. Among the five permanent council members with veto power, only the United States is backing the British draft, which is cosponsored by the Netherlands. Russia and China have circulated a rival resolution, and France, which initially backed it, has now circulated a third draft. The five permanent members met Monday on Iraq but diplomats reported little progress in bridging the gap. ''We're beginning to understand each other's difficulties much better ... but some fundamental difficulties still remain,'' said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock. He said no decision had been made on whether to introduce the British-Dutch draft. Diplomats say Britain and the United States believe a large number of the 10 non-permanent, elected council members support the proposed British-Dutch resolution as a basis for discussion. The most important difference between the British-Dutch draft resolution and the rival proposals is the condition for suspending sanctions. The British and Dutch insist on further Iraqi compliance with its disarmament obligations before the oil embargo is suspended. The French, Russians and Chinese would suspend all sanctions - not just the oil embargo - if Iraq cooperates with a new commission that would monitor its banned weapons programs. Another key difference is that the British and Dutch insist that Baghdad continue to adhere to strict financial controls to ensure that revenues from oil sales aren't spent on new weapons. The rival drafts have an alternative plan to control oil revenues that Washington and London contend is too porous. Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said Sunday that the British-Dutch proposal would merely transform Iraq into a colony. The proposal also runs counter to a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for the lifting of sanctions once weapons inspectors report that Iraq has disarmed, he said. Iraq has been under U.N. sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Under U.N. resolutions, sanctions cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors report that Iraq has dismantled its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs and long-range missile capability. In a related matter, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard reported ''some progress'' on efforts to send a U.N. team to Iraq to check out a laboratory abandoned by U.N. weapons inspectors in December. But he said one substantive issue remained, which he refused to disclose. Chief weapons inspector Richard Butler has recommended that samples of biological and chemical agents used to calibrate testing equipment be destroyed. U.S. Jets Bomb Iraqi Defense Sites dailynews.yahoo.com ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - U.S. fighter planes bombed a military command center in northern Iraq today after being fired on by Iraqi forces in the northern no-fly zone, the U.S. military said. The Air Force F-16s and F-15s attacked a military command and control center northwest of Mosul, a city 250 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. European Command said. The attack came after the warplanes, which are enforcing the no-fly zone north of the 36th parallel, were fired on by anti-aircraft artillery, the European Command said. All U.S. planes returned safely to Incirlik air base in southern Turkey. The damage to the Iraqi sites was being assessed. U.S. and British warplanes have been enforcing the no-fly zone in northern Iraq since the end of the 1991 Gulf War to protect Iraqi Kurds against the forces of Baghdad. Another no-fly zone was set up in southern Iraq to protect Shiite minorities. Baghdad does not recognize the zones and has challenged allied planes there since December. Earlier Stories