Annoyed U.N. Security Council Renews Sanctions Against Iraq

The Security Council, clearly annoyed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s continued foot-dragging in complying with U.N. resolutions, extended sanctions against Iraq on Wednesday for 60 more days.

In doing so, the council, as expected, thoroughly rejected Iraq’s contention that it has complied with all requirements of the cease-fire resolution that ended the Gulf War a year ago. Iraq painted itself as a model of cooperation, an image all but ridiculed by the council.

The Hussein government irritated the United Nations in the last two weeks by allowing a mob to rough up inspectors, by refusing to meet with a U.N. team to work out details of a plan to sell a limited amount of oil to help the needy and by refusing to acknowledge that Iraq will be subject to long-term inspections to ensure it never again engages in programs to produce weapons of mass destruction.

Asked if further action is planned if Iraq continues to refuse cooperation, U.S. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, the council president this month, said, “Stand by for further news.” While this jocular remark was interpreted by some as a hint of further military action against Iraq, a U.S. diplomat said Pickering was not referring to anything like that.

There has been some confusion at the United Nations over reports that Iraq has rejected any inspections to monitor whether it resumes nuclear, chemical, biological or missile warfare programs in the future. This is required under a council measure passed months after the cease-fire resolution that demanded the elimination of all Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

U.N. sources said that Iraq has never proclaimed its intention to defy on-going inspections. But they said it has never stated its intention to comply with them, either.

After the meeting, Pickering said the members strongly deplored Iraq’s failure to show up at Vienna for talks on the sale of $1.6 billion of Iraqi oil. U.N. curbs, in force for 18 months, prohibit Iraqi oil exports. But, as a humanitarian gesture, the council agreed to allow this sale, provided it controls how the receipts are spent.