France on Tuesday proposed suspending the UN-imposed civilian sanctions against Iraq and phasing out the oil-for-food humanitarian program for the country.
"I have proposed that the decision should be taken to immediately suspend the civilian sanctions," French Ambassador to the UN Jean-Marc de La Sabliere told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York after a closed-door Security Council session.
But he stressed that the lifting of the sanctions was "linked to the certification of the disarmament of Iraq."
Russian UN Ambassador Sergey Lavrov confirmed later that the French proposal was made "orally" by La Sabliere at the council consultations.
(Xinhua News Agency April 23, 2003)
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