Résolution 1476 du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU, 24 avril 2003 (source Réseau Voltaire)Le Conseil de sécurité, adoptant à l'unanimité la résolution 1476 (en Mars 2003), a maintenu jusqu'au 3 juin prochain les aménagements techniques et temporaires qu'il avait apportés le 28 mars dernier* au programme « Pétrole contre nourriture ». Ce programme, mis en place le 14 avril 1995, vise à atténuer les effets de l'embargo imposé à l'Iraq en autorisant les Etats à permettre l'importation d'Iraq de pétrole et de produits pétroliers dont les recettes doivent permettre à l'Iraq d'acheter des fournitures humanitaires. Aujourd'hui, le Secrétaire général et ses représentants ont été autorisés à poursuivre jusqu'au 3 juin prochain, l'examen d'urgence des contrats approuvés conclus par le Gouvernement iraquien, financés ou non, afin de déterminer le degré de priorité des besoins et l'exécution de ces contrats en fonction des priorités fixées. Le Secrétaire général est autorisé par conséquent à négocier et arrêter les aménagements à apporter aux clauses et conditions desdits contrats. Au titre du programme, le Secrétaire général est également autorisé à négocier et exécuter de nouveaux contrats portant sur les articles médicaux essentiels. Il est en outre autorisé à utiliser les fonds déposés au compte-séquestre pour acheter des marchandises produites localement et pour régler les dépenses engagées sur place. ------------------------------------------- Résolution 1476 Le Conseil de sécurité, Rappelant ses résolutions antérieures sur la question, en particulier les résolutions 661 (1990) du 6 août 1990, 986 (1995) du 14 avril 1995, 1409 (2002) du 14 mai 2002, 1454 (2002) du 30 décembre 2002 et 1472 (2003) du 28 mars 2003, en ce qu'elles prévoient la fourniture de secours humanitaires au peuple iraquien, Agissant en vertu du Chapitre VII de la Charte des Nations Unies, 1.Décide que les dispositions du paragraphe 4 de la résolution 1472 (2003) demeurent en vigueur jusqu'au 3 juin 2003 et sont susceptibles d'être à nouveau prorogées par ses soins ; 2.Décide de demeurer saisi de la question. The Security Council this afternoon unanimously adopted a resolution extending the current oil-for-food program for Iraq until June 3. Resolution 1476 extends a previous resolution under which U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s authority over the program would expire May 12. The program itself is scheduled to expire June 3. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said Washington supported the resolution because "it makes sense to make a technical adjustment" so that Annan "can better plan" to provide humanitarian aid to Iraqis (Jim Wurst, UN Wire, April 24). U.N. Aid Workers Return To Iraq U.N. humanitarian aid workers began to return to Iraq yesterday after more than five weeks of absence, saying electrical service had been restored to 30 percent of Baghdad, medical services were starting to return and a "dramatic increase" in food supplies was apparent. A team of six U.N. workers, including the northern Iraq UNICEF and World Food Program coordinators, crossed into Iraq from Turkey yesterday. Another group of 28 workers, led by the deputy humanitarian coordinator for northern Iraq, is expected to arrive in Erbil today. The second group is to concentrate on food, assistance to the internally displaced and mines in three northern provinces, and their activities will later expand to include health and education assistance. The WFP said 38,177 metric tons of food aid, enough for about 2.7 million people, had so far arrived from Turkey and that supplies were increasing dramatically. It said food stocks in Kurdish-controlled areas were approaching prewar levels, allowing the WFP to focus on areas formerly controlled by the Iraqi government where food distribution was all but frozen during the war. More than 350 World Health Organization workers are seeking to jump-start medical services throughout Iraq. The WHO and Iraqi health officials are also moving urgently needed medical supplies and food into the northern city of Mosul (U.N. release, April 23). UNICEF head Carol Bellamy said yesterday that top priorities for UNICEF international staff, expected to return to Iraq this week or next, will be water and schools. UNICEF has a budget target of $165 million to carry out food, health, sanitation and education assistance. "Conditions for children (in Iraq) over the past 10 to 15 years have declined, certainly in relation to the countries surrounding it," she said. One child in eight dies before the age of 5 in Iraq, one of the worst rates in the world, while one-third are malnourished and one-quarter have no access to safe drinking water. UNICEF estimates 70 percent of Iraqi children's illnesses are related to contaminated water. Bellamy said many of the country's schools were either damaged in the war or are being occupied by soldiers or people displaced by the hostilities (Joseph Coleman, Associated Press/Environmental News Network, April 24). Refugees International said yesterday that revitalizing Iraqi agriculture would help reduce dependence on outside food aid and should be a reconstruction priority. It said the U.N. oil-for-food program has contributed to a decline in Iraqi output (Refugees International release, April 23).
Iraq's Neighbors Begin To Process Refugees
Jordan allowed nearly 200 refugees to enter the country Monday and Tuesday after camping at in a no-man's-land for three weeks. Officials required the mainly Iraqi, Syrian and Palestinian arrivals to sign waivers promising to return once conditions normalize in Iraq, UNHCR's Peter Kessler said. Almost 900 Iranians, mostly Kurds who fled a refugee camp west of Baghdad, remain in a camp in the no-man's-land. Among them are 58 Iranians who are reportedly associated with the Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq and were already recognized as refugees by European countries, the United States and Australia. Jordan's information minister, Muhammed Adwan, said he will not allow any previously recognized refugee into Jordanian territory (Integrated Regional Information Networks, April 23). Saudi authorities said they were working with UNHCR to prepare for the repatriation of some 5,200 Iraqi refugees who have been living in a camp in northern Saudi Arabia since 1991. Director of Joint Forces and Refugee Affairs Atiyah al-Touri expressed hope that the refugees will be able to return home within a month (Kuwait News Agency/Relief Web, April 23).
Garner Urges Iraqis To Get Back To Work
Meeting with about 60 Iraqi academics and local leaders yesterday, U.S. postwar Iraq administrator Jay Garner told participants to send out the message "that it is very, very important for people to get back to work." Iraqis at the meeting said they pressed Garner to restore essential services and law and order as quickly as possible in Baghdad. Garner said, "Our purpose here in your country is to create an environment for you so that we can begin a process of government that leads to a democratic form ... a government that is a mosaic of the Iraqi people. ... I think we can do this rapidly" (Mona Megalli, Reuters/MSNBC.com, April 24).
|