Office of the Iraq Programme Oil for Food

16 November 1998

Oil-for-Food Background Information

Oil for food programme resumes normal operations

United Nations staff who were temporarily relocated to Amman, Jordan, today began returning to Baghdad. Thirty have arrived by aircraft, one hundred are enroute by land and the remainder will return in the coming days.

Independent inspection services were restored today at three of the four points of arrival for humanitarian goods entering Iraq under the oil for food programme.

Staff of Lloyds Register resumed authenticating and certifying the arrival of humanitarian goods at the Trebil and Al Waleed border crossing points and at the port of Umm Qasr. Lloyds Register staff from Umm Qasr are travelling to Zakho and will begin operating there by the end of Tuesday, 17 November.

The Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Mr Benon Sevan, said the return of the independent inspection agents meant that contractors under the oil for food programme could continue consigning supplies to Iraq with full confidence that they will be paid in the usual manner.

The certification provided by the independent inspection agents enables the Office of the Iraq Programme to provide the bank holding the United Nations Iraq account with the approval necessary for payment to suppliers with contracts governed by the procedures of the Security Council's 661 Committee.

The backlog at the Al Waleed, Trebil and Zakho crossings is expected to be cleared within a few days. There was no interruption in the distribution of essential humanitarian supplies to the people of Iraq.

*Trebil is the crossing point with Jordan, Al Waleed with Syria and Zakho with Turkey.

OIP Home Page

Back to Top

Produced for media and public information – not an official United Nations Document
For further information please contact Hasmik Egian, OIP - NY, 1.212.963.4341

Oil-for-Food Background Information		Oil for food programme resumes normal operations United Nations staff who were temporarily relocated to Amman, Jordan, today began returning to Baghdad. Thirty have arrived by aircraft, one hundred are enroute by land and the remainder will return in the coming days. Independent inspection services were restored today at three of the four points of arrival for humanitarian goods entering Iraq under the oil for food programme. Staff of Lloyds Register resumed authenticating and certifying the arrival of humanitarian goods at the Trebil and Al Waleed border crossing points and at the port of Umm Qasr. Lloyds Register staff from Umm Qasr are travelling to Zakho and will begin operating there by the end of Tuesday, 17 November. The Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Mr Benon Sevan, said the return of the independent inspection agents meant that contractors under the oil for food programme could continue consigning supplies to Iraq with full confidence that they will be paid in the usual manner. The certification provided by the independent inspection agents enables the Office of the Iraq Programme to provide the bank holding the United Nations Iraq account with the approval necessary for payment to suppliers with contracts governed by the procedures of the Security Council's 661 Committee. The backlog at the Al Waleed, Trebil and Zakho crossings is expected to be cleared within a few days. There was no interruption in the distribution of essential humanitarian supplies to the people of Iraq. *Trebil is the crossing point with Jordan, Al Waleed with Syria and Zakho with Turkey.
OIP Home Page


Back to Top