Major Countries Dispute Post-war Iraqi Reconstruction

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 27, 2003

Major Countries Dispute Post-war Iraqi Reconstruction

Major countries of the world harbor potential disputes over rebuilding war-torn Iraq as US-British troops allegedly make big battlefield progress in preparation for the decisive push on Baghdad.

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Major countries of the world harbor potential disputes over rebuilding war-torn Iraq as US-British troops allegedly make big battlefield progress in preparation for the decisive push on Baghdad.

Although British Prime Minister Tony Blair Tuesday said Britain and the United States had agreed that the United Nations should play a pivotal role in Iraq's reconstruction, Britain is lobbying the United States to try to win a share for British companies of work to rebuild post-war Iraq. It comes amid concern that US firms will grab all of the lucrative contracts.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has reportedly tendered eight civilian contracts for the postwar reconstruction of Iraq since January 31. They have gone to a select group of US companies, with no foreign companies being invited to tender.

Britain appears to be in a stronger position than most countries to try to win a share of the work for its companies, given the staunch support it has given Washington throughout the Iraq crisis and during the current conflict.

A British government spokesman said Friday that Britain was discussing two new resolutions at the UN Security Council to deal with the post-war situation in Iraq.

One was to make the necessary changes, in light of the present situation, to the oil-for-food program. In the changes to the oil-for-food program, it would be necessary to include provision that the UN secretary general appoint a special representative in Iraq.

The second resolution was to make clear the relationship between the United Nations, new Iraqi authorities and the rest of the international community, including international financial institutions, he said.

In another development, the United States on Monday awarded a 4.8-million-dollar contract to manage the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr which the coalition said it had recently seized and tenuously-held.

The USAID said the contract, the second to be awarded after Washington sought contracts from a select group of US firms, was awarded to the Seattle-based, Washington Stevedoring Services of America (SSA).

The deal was the second of eight civilian contracts for the postwar reconstruction of Iraq tendered by USAID on January 31, and reportedly valued at more than 900 million dollars. A 7.1-million-dollar personnel contract was awarded to Washington-based International Resources Group, on February 21.

United States President George W. Bush, on Tuesday, called for swift passage for a 74.7-billion-dollar emergency spending plan to pay for the war on Iraq and its aftermath, and to build up anti-terrorism defenses at home and aid key allies.

Out of the funds, only 2.4 billion would go toward humanitarian relief and reconstruction in Iraq.

Washington said the United States would not pay the full cost of rebuilding Iraq because there was "a relatively large pool of billions and billions of dollars" for reconstruction from frozen Iraqi assets, as well as in the country's massive oil reserves.

Kyodo News reported that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and US President George W.Bush agreed last Friday to reconstruct Iraq through both bilateral cooperation and UN activities.

As a tough opponent to the US-led war, French President Jacques Chirac said last Friday that France would not accept that the United States and Britain put Iraq under their administration after the war. He stressed that reconstruction work must be carried out within the United Nations framework.

Russia, a fierce critic of the US-led war, holds deep doubts over the possibility of the United States and Britain maintaining tight control over oil industries in an occupied post-war Iraq. It voiced fresh concern about the future of its oil interests in Iraq on Tuesday, but vowed not to take part in any scramble for the country's oil riches once the war was over.

"The government will defend Russia's interests in Iraq," said Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko. "However, this does not mean that we are driven by lost interests and want to take part in this carve-up."

On March 18, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov insisted that Moscow wanted its existing oil contracts in Iraq honored if US forces ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Russian oil companies, which have been heavily involved in Iraq since Soviet times, have invested more than one billion US dollars in the Iraqi oil industry since 1996.

The Russian oil sector is likely to lose two billion dollars directly because of the war in Iraq, the world's second largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia, according to Yury Shafranik, head of the Russian association of oil and gas producers.

As for Germany, its government last Thursday stressed that the United Nations must play the central role in the post-war restoration in Iraq.

Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham also said last Friday that the United Nations should be in charge of a postwar reconstruction in Iraq.

From providing clean water and food to basic medical treatment,there will be a natural role for Canada in post-war reconstruction of Iraq, Canada's Minister of International Cooperation, Susan Whelan, said Monday.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, during Tuesday's meeting with Condoleezza Rice, US President Bush's assistant for national security affairs, stressed that Iraq's future must be decided by Security Council.

Any UN role in post-war Iraq beyond the provision of humanitarian assistance would have to be decided by the Security Council through a resolution, Annan said.

Annan also emphasized the need to maintain the territorial integrity of Iraq and the right of its people to determine their political future and exercise control over their natural resources.

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