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Is the US acting as a sole superpower by snubbing UN? Post your views

United Nations: The passage of the US-backed resolution lifting the 13 years of sanctions on Iraq has received mixed response, with some Security Council members hailing it as a landmark decision, while others saying that it gave sweeping powers to the occupying powers – US and Britain and assigned a limited role to the United Nations.

Most asserted that they had supported the resolution, which was adopted by the 15-member Council by 14 votes with Syria absenting itself, to relieve the sufferings of the Iraqi people and urged the United States and Britain to install a sovereign Iraqi government earliest.

They also emphasised the need for urgent steps to rebuild the country, meet humanitarian needs of the people and bring about security. Those were the tasks that must be addressed seriously, they said.

The resolution lifts the 13-year old tough economic, financial and trade sanctions against Iraq, but gives sweeping powers to the occupying powers – the United States and Britain – to run the country for an indefinite period, allows them full control over its oil resources and freedom for spending the oil revenues for reconstruction of the country as they deem fit.

The members also stressed that sponsors – US, Britain and Spain – had agreed to give independent role to the United Nations, but diplomats said the role was very limited and all powers lay in Washington and London.

Diplomats said several provisions have been kept vague, which would give chance to the occupying powers to interpret them the way they want.

Some diplomats were of the opinion that the role by the UN envoy could be substantial, as Washington and London might have to depend on him or her, considering the experience the world body has in reconstruction of a country.

American Ambassador John Negroponte said the resolution allowed for the Secretary General's special representative to have a robust role in rebuilding Iraq and guaranteed UN participation in monitoring the sale of Iraqi oil. Now that the resolution had been adopted, it had to be implemented since there were urgent humanitarian, reconstruction, and political tasks at hand, he added.

Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere of France said the resolution was not perfect, but improvements introduced during negotiations provided a credible framework by which the international community could lend support to the Iraqi people.

The strong, independent UN involvement would condition the success of the process, namely, the degree of its ownership by the Iraqi people, he added.

For his part, British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock hoped the vote would mark the return to sustained consensus on one of the most difficult foreign policy issues faced today. He noted that it gave the UN a vital and independent post-conflict role. In that context, he hoped that the Secretary General would rapidly deploy a special representative.

Germany's Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, noting that the resolution was the product of a compromise reached after difficult negotiations. It showed substantial improvements compared to the initial draft and had strengthened the role of the UN. The adoption of the resolution had left behind the divisions of the past, he said.

PTI