Posted on 05/12/2003 5:24:56 AM PDT by nypokerface
PARIS (Reuters) - France is ready to discuss a U.S. proposal to end U.N. sanctions on Iraq, but needs guarantees on various issues including oil production, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said in an interview published on Monday.
The United Nations Security Council started on Friday to discuss the resolution, introduced by the United States and co-sponsored by Britain and Spain.
"This text is a starting point," Villepin told the daily Le Monde. "We are approaching this stage in an open and constructive spirit. We will make suggestions aimed at reaching a rapid conclusion."
France was the most vocal critic of the U.S.-led war against Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein and wants to ensure the United States does not monopolize the country's postwar reconstruction.
The French government has insisted on a central role for the United Nations in getting Iraq back on its feet.
Villepin called for clear rules on the distribution of oil revenues, which U.S. officials said would play a major role in helping to finance Iraq's reconstruction.
Industry experts estimate Iraq's oil reserves to be the second largest in the world after those of Saudi Arabia.
The resolution calls for Iraqi oil revenues to be deposited in an "Iraqi Assistance Fund" for humanitarian and reconstruction purposes, to be held by the Iraqi Central Bank.
The fund would have an advisory board including officials appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as well as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and others. The group would audit spending.
However, decisions on where to spend the money would be made mainly by the United States and Britain, which have called themselves the "occupying powers," with perhaps some input from other allies who helped to oust Saddam.
"Rules must be established on the distribution of oil revenues and the management should be placed under an undisputed international authority," Villepin told Le Monde.
He said it was urgent to install a legitimate Iraqi government, even if it was temporary, and the United Nations should gradually take charge of the political transition phase, as it had done in Afghanistan and Kosovo.
Villepin said France still had questions about the tasks of a proposed new U.N. coordinator in Iraq, saying the current proposal was too imprecise and too feeble.
Villepin also said the resolution, if approved, should be submitted to review every three months by the Security Council.
Hey France!, See that door? Don't let it hit you on the A$$ when you leave. Because it's time for the grown-ups to decide how Iraq will be managed.
Like it was the past 12 yrs. w/ the money kept in FRANCE'S bank and under the autonomous control of Coffee cup Annanh (sp)? With no oversight what so ever, and the UN refusing to show how/what the money was used.
Guarantees huh?
(I noticed the word "demand" has been excised from his vocabulary)
OK how's this:
We guarantee that France will be relegated to irrelevancy for at least one generation.
You want that notarized?
The gal of these people. The starting point should be them appologizing and approving US invasion first. Then we can talk about UN involvement. They are trying to step all over us like greedy children.
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