US: The US will introduce a draft resolution at the UN Security Council today proposing that the council lift sanctions on Iraq and drop the condition in earlier resolutions that UN inspectors must certify that Iraq is free of unconventional weapons before sanctions can be lifted.
The resolution could cause problems for council members who opposed the war, as it will give the US and Britain enormous authority over Iraqi oil revenues and envisages only an oversight role over Iraqi oil sales and reconstruction for the UN, pending the emergence of an elected government.
However, UN diplomats say the atmopsphere at the Security Council is less poisonous than it was before the war, when a majority of the 15 members infuriated the US by blocking a resolution authorising the invasion.
German ambassador Mr Gunter Pleuger said that now that the war was over, "let us not repeat the debates of yesterday and look forward and solve the problems that are at hand in the interests of the Iraqi people".
Nevertheless, "the devil will be in the details", said one diplomat, and these will be the focus of initial exchanges on the resolution this weekend at the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's annual Security Council retreat for ambassadors.
The eight-page draft calls for the phasing out of the UN oil-for-food aid programme over the next four months. This programme has allowed Iraq to sell oil to buy food and medicine under UN supervision and deposit the revenues in a UN account to pay suppliers.
The new arrangement would allow Iraq to start selling oil again on the international market and deposit revenues in an "Iraqi Assistance Fund", to be used for the reconstruction of the country and humanitarian aid.
The US wants the resolution adopted by June 3rd, when the oil-for-food programme is due for renewal. Until the resolution is passed, only the UN has the legal authority to export oil.
The new programme would be overseen by an advisory board that would include representatives from the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank - though the US and Britain would decide where to spend the money in consultation with an Iraqi interim authority sanctioned by the US.
While phasing out the oil-for-food programme, some contracts already approved by the UN administrators of the programme would be honoured. There are $13 billion worth of outstanding contracts, and Russia has $1.6 billion in supply contracts.
The resolution asks Mr Annan to appoint a co-ordinator to supervise UN humanitarian assistance and reconstruction activities in Iraq.
The UN Secretary General has resisted this suggestion before on grounds that no authoratitive figure would accept the job if it was not properly defined.
The role and authority of the UN envoy will be one of the sticking-points in the debate. The envoy would be expected to work in partnership with the the coaliton and the interim authority, and would have a nominal role in re-establishing government ministries and a police force, and in promoting human rights and legal and judicial reforms.
Russia has led the argument for a stronger role for the UN to give the interim authority international legitimacy, and has the support not only of France but of Britain.
One report said the US resolution calls for an international advisory board consisting of Mr Annan, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to ensure the oil revenues are spent for the benefit of the Iraqi people.
Russia has circulated its own draft resolution calling for Mr Annan to run the oil-for-food programme until an internationally recognised Iraqi government comes to power, which could be two years away.
On Wednesday President Bush ordered the lifting of separate US sanctions against Iraq.
A US soldier was shot dead by a sniper in south-east Baghdad yesterday.