UN votes to end 13 years of Iraq sanctions

The Security Council voted 14-0 today to immediately lift the 13-year-old UN sanctions on Iraqand put its economy under the broad…

The Security Council voted 14-0 today to immediately lift the 13-year-old UN sanctions on Iraqand put its economy under the broad control of the Allied occupying forces.

Syria boycotted the session called to vote on a UN Security Council resolution to lift sanctions. Syrian UN envoy Mr Fayssal Mekdad told reporters yesterday Damascus had not been given enough time to make up its mind.

UN sanctions were imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The resolution has lifted all sanctions except an arms embargo. It ends the strict UN controls on the Iraqi economy imposed as part of the oil-for-food humanitarian programme.

It has also given occupiers the United States and Britain broad powers to run the nation and sell its oil until a new government is set up.

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Washington had offered fresh concessions to reassure countries seeking a greater UN voice in Iraqi reconstruction. These included the enhanced stature of a proposed UN representative in Iraq, which would still be largely under the control of the US and Britain.

The new text calls on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to appoint a "special representative" with independent powers, rather than a "special coordinator," to work with the US and Britain.

France, Germany and Russia, the leading opponents of the war in Iraq, had said yesterday that they would support the resolution.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell called France's vote yes on the resolution on Iraq "a step in the right direction" on the path to mending US-French relations.