Baghdad indifferent as UN vote ends sanctions

BAGHDAD - The fulfilment of a long-awaited Iraqi dream went almost unnoticed in Baghdad on Friday, where many ordinary people said the lifting of UN sanctions made little difference in the absence of a homegrown government.

"We expected this to happen after the fall of Saddam Hussein," said Hameed Hashim, a teacher, adding gloomily that the US-led occupation meant "Iraq is now the state number 51" of the United States.

"Till now there is no government, so the decision is useless," Hashim said. "But we hope that America and Britain will use the decision for the benefit of the Iraqi people."

The UN Security Council voted 14-O on Thursday to end 13 years of sanctions and grant the United States and Britain broad powers to run Iraq and sell its oil to fund reconstruction until a new government is established.

Iraqis leaving mosques after Friday prayers said the decision meant nothing under current conditions because what they needed most were security and functioning utilities.

"I did not feel happy. Nothing will make me happy now but a normal life with electricity, water supply and security on the streets," said Ahmed Hassan, a street vendor.

"In fact, the sanctions were lifted when America invaded Iraq. The embargo had become no more than ink on paper," he said. "People will feel happy when they feel safe and secure."

Nearly two months after the fall of Saddam Hussein, life is difficult in Iraq, a once prosperous nation brought low by years of war and international isolation.

The absence of basic services, on top of war, bombing and occupation by a foreign power, has left Baghdad's residents feeling desperate and isolated. For many, the lengthy cuts in water and electricity supplies are the last straw.

Electricity has been restored in some parts of the capital, but power cuts can last more than 12 hours a day -- inflicting real suffering in a country of long, hot summers -- and at night Baghdad is plunged into utter darkness.

Most Iraqis accuse Washington of dragging out the transition process so as to continue running the country and controlling its oil revenues.

"The UN decision did not surprise me because America came to Iraq to control oil and this decision give it the right to administer oil revenues," said Ali Saad, a taxi driver.

"They did not do enough to fight crime in the streets to delay the handover of power to an Iraqi interim government," he said. "The Iraqi political parties have to end their quarrels and agree on a government."

Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq acted swiftly on America's overwhelming victory at the United Nations over its plans to rebuild the oil-rich country, dissolving several key Baathist ministries and bodies.

Only hours after the UN vote, Bremer sacked hundreds of thousands of public employees and soldiers by abolishing the defence and information ministries and military and security courts.

The Bush administration, which is struggling to bring order to Iraq and kick-start its devastated economy, scored a major victory at the Security Council on Thursday by winning over anti-war states France, Russia and Germany.

The new resolution, to be reviewed in 12 months, allows the United States and Britain to use Iraq's abundant oil resources to finance its reconstruction.

Washington made last-minute concessions opening the door to an independent, albeit limited, UN role and the possibility of UN weapons inspectors returning to post-war Iraq.

Without UN action to lift the sanctions, the United States would have been in a legal no man's land, with many firms unwilling to engage in trade with Iraq, which has the world's second largest oil reserves. Some 8.3 million barrels of Iraqi oil stored at the Turkish port of Ceyhan can now be exported.

Bremer's decision to disband the Iraqi armed forces and several security bodies that had formed the backbone of Saddam Hussein's iron rule will affect more than 400,000 soldiers and public employees.

"These actions are part of a robust campaign to show the Iraqi people that the Saddam regime is gone, and will never return," the US-led administration said in a statement.

The order disbands the elite Republican Guards and the regular army, suspends conscription, turns property of the dissolved entities over to the US-led administration and dismisses all employees of the dissolved entities.

The Iraqi army has in practice already been disbanded by the US-led war that toppled Saddam last month. The US administration has also banned the ruling Baath Party and vowed to prevent the party's top officials from holding public office.

The administration said it planned to build a new Iraqi army from scratch.

The UN decision to lift sanctions by a vote of 14-0 was greeted with relief and joy in Iraq. The crackle of AK-47 fire echoed over the rooftops in Iraq's second city of Basra and tracer bullets shot into the sky as the news broke from the United Nations overnight.

"The sanctions are over," said one Iraqi youth, standing with a Kalashnikov on a street corner. "God willing, things will be better now."

The sanctions were imposed shortly after Saddam's troops invaded Kuwait in August 1990. Critics said they had little effect on the lifestyle of Iraq's leaders while impoverishing average Iraqis.

The new resolution transfers legal control over Iraq's oil immediately from the United Nations to the United States and Britain. Oil revenues will go into a new Iraqi Development Fund for rebuilding the country, controlled by the two countries and overseen by an international board.

The resolution exempts Iraq's oil revenues from claims by foreign creditors until an internationally recognised Iraqi government is established.


- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq