March 30, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 26, 1424

LONDON: Britain and France temporarily set aside their differences on Friday to support a fresh United Nations security council resolution that will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Iraq.

The diplomats unanimously approved the resolution giving the UN secretary general, the authority to make necessary adjustments to the oil-for-food programme. The vote will allow Mr Annan to spend billions of dollars of Baghdad’s oil revenues on food and humanitarian aid to Iraq — 60 per cent of whose population depend on aid programmes. The oil- for-food aid was suspended when Mr Annan ordered all UN staff out of Iraq as hostilities commenced.

The Anglo-French support for the resolution, which was tabled by Germany, raised hopes that Britain and France might be prepared to bury their differences after their bruising rows over Iraq. However, Britain struck a note of caution about the prospect of an early deal over the next UN resolution on the far more contentious area of establishing a postwar administration in Iraq.

All sides would like the administration to be set up under the authority of the UN. But the Americans, who have been exasperated by the failure of the UN to endorse its campaign in Iraq, want to limit its role. France and Germany will have nothing to do with a resolution which provides UN cover for an American-led initiative.

Diplomats believe a deal will eventually be reached, not least because France and Russia have commercial interests in Iraq which could be jeopardised if they refuse to endorse a postwar administration.

Britain was encouraged by the wide support for the resolution and noted that it even won the backing of Syria, the only Arab member of the security council. President Bashar al-Assad, who has publicly expressed the hope that Britain and the US will be defeated, had been reluctant to support a resolution which concedes that there is no functioning government in Iraq.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.