With war under way, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked the Security Council on Thursday to authorize him to run Iraq's oil-for-food humanitarian aid program, now a joint venture between Baghdad and the United Nations. While the primary responsibility for caring for Iraq's 26 million people would lie "with the authority exercising effective control in the country" — the United States, in the event of a military victory — the United Nations could play its role in meeting crucial needs if the Security Council approved, Annan said in a letter to the council. He submitted his proposals as the United States and Britain were finishing their own draft resolution, which they planned to circulate to the council's five permanent members as soon as Thursday afternoon, council diplomats said. Under the existing oil-for-food program, in place since 1996 but suspended this week due to the impending war, Iraq's oil revenues go into a U.N. account out of which President Saddam Hussein's government buys food, medicine and other goods for the general population under U.N. supervision.
I'd call this pretty meaningless, since the oil-for-food program probably doesn't have many more months to run. Its significance lies in Kofi's meek acquiescence to a subordinate position. He knows the UN is toes up, unless the U.S. and Britain decide to keep it... |