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UNITED NATIONS, March 30, 1999 (Reuters) - A U.N. panel on Iraq's humanitarian needs proposed on Tuesday that foreign oil companies should be allowed to invest in Iraq as well as export some oil industry parts to raise the economy of the nation.
The report, requested by the Security Council, came from one of three panels set up to provide a basis for formulating a policy towards Iraq that its divided 15 members could accept.
But any decisions would be up to the council where the United States, which has a hardline stance towards any easing of U.N. stringent trade sanctions, has veto power.
The panel concluded that Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War has "experienced a shift from relative affluence to massive poverty." Infant mortality rates are the highest in the world, birth weight affects at least 23 percent of all newborns and chronic malnutrition affects every fourth child under five years of age.
Only 41 percent of the population has regular access to clear water and 83 percent of all schools need substantial repairs. The U.N. Development Programme calculates it would take $7 billion to rehabilitate the power sector to its 1990 capacity, the report said.
Iraq since December 1996 has been subject to an U.N. "oil-for-food" programme under which it can now sell up to $5.256 billion worth of oil every six months in order to provide emergency goods for its people, under sanctions imposed in August 1990 when Baghdad's troops invaded Kuwait.