U.N. Agrees to Ease Sanctions on Food, Other Aid for Iraq

The U.N. Security Council approved a recommendation Friday by its sanctions committee to ease restrictions on food and other essential supplies for Iraq.

The panel had agreed to the move following the release of a U.N. report warning of imminent catastrophe in the war-ravaged country.

An official announcement said the committee would have to be notified of the dispatch of food shipments but would not have to give its approval to each shipment, as was previously the case.

Other items, such as emergency fuel supplies and equipment, would be approved virtually automatically, unless a specific objection was raised.

A report Thursday by a U.N. mission just back from Iraq said the country has been bombed back into the pre-industrial age and needs large quantities of food, fuel and other emergency items to avert starvation.

The committee also said Friday that there is a humanitarian need in all parts of Iraq, a statement intended to underline the Security Council’s insistence that relief supplies also go to areas where the government is battling rebel groups.

Iraq’s U.N. ambassador, Abdul Amir Anbari, told reporters there would be no problem in shipping food to all areas of the country.