DATE=12/1/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=UN / IRAQ (L-O)

NUMBER=2-269922

BYLINE=BARBARA SCHOETZAU

DATELINE= UNITED NATIONS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan says the humanitarian situation in Iraq has improved since the U-N oil-for-food program began. But the U-N leader says the quality of life for ordinary Iraqis is deteriorating. Correspondent Barbara Schoetzau reports from the United Nations.

TEXT: In his latest report to the Security Council, Mr. Annan urges the government of Iraq to take greater steps to help the most vulnerable members of Iraqi society - children, the disabled, and the poorest groups.

As part of the U-N supervised oil-for-food program, revenues from the sale of Iraqi oil are supposed to be used for humanitarian purposes. But U-N spokesperson Fred Eckhard says less than 30 percent of the funds budgeted for the current phase of the oil-for-food program, which ends in a month, have been used.

////ECKHARD ACT ////

The Secretary General again expresses his serious concern over the excessive number of holds being placed on applications to the Security Council sanctions committee on Iraq, especially in such sectors as electricity, water, and sanitation and agriculture, which impact adversely on the poor state of nutrition in Iraq. He has similarly appealed to the government of Iraq to expedite the contracting of humanitarian supplies.

////END ACT ////

Secretary General Annan says he regrets the continuing suffering of the Iraqi people and hopes that Iraq will comply with Security Council resolutions so that sanctions can be lifted sooner rather than later.

Tuesday, U-N diplomats said Mr. Annan and Iraqi officials will meet early in the new year to try to break the impasse over the United Nations' inspection of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. U-N weapons inspectors have not been allowed in Iraq in two years. But decade-old economic sanctions cannot be lifted until the weapons inspectors return.

Meanwhile, Iraq has stopped shipping oil while it debates pricing policy with the United Nations. U-N spokesperson Eckhard says the United Nations is continuing its efforts to reach the Iraqi state oil authority, SOMO, to get agreement on a new pricing mechanism for December. (Signed)

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