lennart
04-10-03, 12:35
US Seen Dragging Feet on Iraqi Oil Money Watchdog
Thu October 2, 2003 06:40 PM ET
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Four months after the Security Council ordered an independent board to monitor U.S. spending of Iraq's oil revenues, diplomats on Thursday accused the United States of blocking it from taking up its duties.
The diplomats blamed the delay on U.S. disagreements with the designated members of the as-yet nonexistent International Advisory and Monitoring Board over its duties. The board was to be created under a May 22 Security Council resolution.
They said the disagreement reflected a U.S. desire to keep Iraqi reconstruction exclusively in American hands, an attitude they said discouraged other governments from picking up a bigger share of the cost of rebuilding the war-battered nation.
In Washington, administration officials said they were eager for the board to be set up and begin its work but wanted its role confined essentially to bookkeeping.
"By getting more people involved, you are going to have a lot of quibbling over how the money is spent," one U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We are on the ground, we know what the needs are, and we are committed to ensuring the money is spent appropriately and in a transparent fashion," the official said.
Another U.S. official said the problem lay not with Washington but with the Coalition Provisional Authority, headed by Iraq's U.S. administrator, Paul Bremer.
"The CPA is not the U.S. government," this official said.
The May 22 resolution called for Iraqi oil revenues and other reconstruction funds -- including money left over from the U.N. oil-for-food program after it is shut down on Nov. 21 -- to be deposited in a Development Fund for Iraq, to be held by the Iraqi central bank.
BOARD'S DUTIES VAGUE
The resolution awards seats on the monitoring board to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development but leaves the board's precise duties vague.
Iraq's U.S. administration, which has run the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government, has so far set up neither the board nor the fund, instead temporarily parking the money in an account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Although Iraqi oil sales have so far been negligible, there is at least $1 billion in the fund, transferred from the oil-for-food program. U.S. officials would not provide an overall figure.
The administration began spending some of the money in the fund a few months ago but stopped doing so after a reporter questioned whether that was allowed under the resolution, which said the U.S. administration could spend the money only "in consultation with the Iraqi interim administration," which does not yet exist.
At issue are disagreements over the board's operating guidelines, known as "terms of reference."
The World Bank's country director for Iraq, Joe Saba, said the designated board members had agreed among themselves on draft terms of reference and given those to the CPA.
"We hope that we'll be able to reach agreement on those terms of reference," he told reporters in Dubai two weeks ago.
"This will be a major embarrassment for the United States if the monitoring board is not up and running before the Madrid donors' conference," said a Security Council member.
Representatives of dozens of governments are to gather Oct. 23 and 24 in Madrid, at the invitation of Spain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, to hear a plea for contributions toward financing Iraq's vast reconstruction needs.
While the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF have assessed the need at $35.6 billion over the next four years, donors are expected to pledge less than $2 billion in Madrid.
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3550371
Thu October 2, 2003 06:40 PM ET
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Four months after the Security Council ordered an independent board to monitor U.S. spending of Iraq's oil revenues, diplomats on Thursday accused the United States of blocking it from taking up its duties.
The diplomats blamed the delay on U.S. disagreements with the designated members of the as-yet nonexistent International Advisory and Monitoring Board over its duties. The board was to be created under a May 22 Security Council resolution.
They said the disagreement reflected a U.S. desire to keep Iraqi reconstruction exclusively in American hands, an attitude they said discouraged other governments from picking up a bigger share of the cost of rebuilding the war-battered nation.
In Washington, administration officials said they were eager for the board to be set up and begin its work but wanted its role confined essentially to bookkeeping.
"By getting more people involved, you are going to have a lot of quibbling over how the money is spent," one U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We are on the ground, we know what the needs are, and we are committed to ensuring the money is spent appropriately and in a transparent fashion," the official said.
Another U.S. official said the problem lay not with Washington but with the Coalition Provisional Authority, headed by Iraq's U.S. administrator, Paul Bremer.
"The CPA is not the U.S. government," this official said.
The May 22 resolution called for Iraqi oil revenues and other reconstruction funds -- including money left over from the U.N. oil-for-food program after it is shut down on Nov. 21 -- to be deposited in a Development Fund for Iraq, to be held by the Iraqi central bank.
BOARD'S DUTIES VAGUE
The resolution awards seats on the monitoring board to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development but leaves the board's precise duties vague.
Iraq's U.S. administration, which has run the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government, has so far set up neither the board nor the fund, instead temporarily parking the money in an account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Although Iraqi oil sales have so far been negligible, there is at least $1 billion in the fund, transferred from the oil-for-food program. U.S. officials would not provide an overall figure.
The administration began spending some of the money in the fund a few months ago but stopped doing so after a reporter questioned whether that was allowed under the resolution, which said the U.S. administration could spend the money only "in consultation with the Iraqi interim administration," which does not yet exist.
At issue are disagreements over the board's operating guidelines, known as "terms of reference."
The World Bank's country director for Iraq, Joe Saba, said the designated board members had agreed among themselves on draft terms of reference and given those to the CPA.
"We hope that we'll be able to reach agreement on those terms of reference," he told reporters in Dubai two weeks ago.
"This will be a major embarrassment for the United States if the monitoring board is not up and running before the Madrid donors' conference," said a Security Council member.
Representatives of dozens of governments are to gather Oct. 23 and 24 in Madrid, at the invitation of Spain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, to hear a plea for contributions toward financing Iraq's vast reconstruction needs.
While the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF have assessed the need at $35.6 billion over the next four years, donors are expected to pledge less than $2 billion in Madrid.
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3550371