Campaign of Conscience For the Iraqi People

UN alarmed by contract blocking of Iraq oil-for-food program


Excerpt From AFP Report (Wednesday January 9, 3:34 AM)

The United Nations rang alarm bells at the number of contracts blocked by the Security Council committee overseeing its Iraq oil-for-food program, which now total almost five billion dollars.

In a letter to the committee, program director Benon Sevan expressed his "grave concern at the unprecedented surge in the volume of holds placed on contracts" as a result of sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990.

The total value of holds — many of them demanded by the United States and Britain to prevent Iraq purchasing civilian goods with a possible military use — has increased by one billion dollars in 10 weeks.

In his letter, Sevan said a total of 1,854 contracts were now on hold, worth a total 4.956 billion dollars. They included orders for 4.28 billion dollars worth of humanitarian supplies and for 676 million dollars worth of oil industry equipment.

Of the total, 206 contracts, worth a total of 353 million dollars, had been blocked because the suppliers had failed to provide the sanctions committee with necessary technical information, he said.

A statistical breakdown released by Sevan's office showed that the worst-hit sector was electricity, with about 1.16 billion dollars worth of supplies on hold, followed by water and sanitation, with 577 million dollars worth.