Economic Sanctions

WASHINGTON -- Tacitly acknowledging that the U.S. campaign to contain Iraq is collapsing, the Clinton administration will support a proposal next week to ease economic sanctions against Baghdad and dilute efforts to monitor Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.The proposal would remove the limits on Iraqi oil sales permitted under a United Nations-administered program, U.S. and U.N. officials said. The oil sales proceeds are used to buy food and humanitarian supplies for the Iraqi people.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- After months of struggling to keep pace with President F. W. de Klerk, the African National Congress has made the leap from an underground movement to a political organization eager to negotiate with white authorities.The more pragmatic ANC emerged from its five-day national conference with a commitment to fight the white-minority government at the negotiating table and with a determination to be seen as a serious and equal partner in the task of shaping a democratic future for South Africa.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is drawing up a plan to allow the United Nations Security Council to remove some sanctions against Iraq to allow Baghdad to sell petroleum for the purchase of food and medicine, the payment of war reparations and the cost of destroying weapons, senior administration officials say.The plan, which was drafted by the State Department, is being circulated for review within the department and at the Pentagon, the White House...

THE PRESSURE is now on the United States to end the unilateral sanctions it slapped on Libya in 1981 for alleged support of terrorism.It should consider doing so, following the lead of Britain, which on Wednesday ended the sanctions it imposed in 1984, after gunfire from inside the Libyan embassy in London killed Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher, who was keeping order at a demonstration outside.Further ensuring Libya's pariah status were United Nations sanctions inhibiting air travel and investment in Libya's oil industry.

WASHINGTON -- Bureaucratic logjams, Iraqi foot-dragging and deep-seated distrust hobble the United Nations' oil-for-food deal with Iraq, prolonging the suffering of millions.A year after Iraq was allowed to begin selling limited amounts of oil to buy food and medicine, no one is satisfied -- not U.N. officials, who say it fails to eradicate the causes of Iraqi hunger and disease; not the Iraqi people, who complain of inadequate and poor quality supplies; and not the United States, which is widely blamed in the Arab world for Iraqi misery from sanctions imposed for the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- More than a year of warfare and economic sanctions is taking a heavy toll in Serbia, the seat of the rump state of Yugoslavia.But the grim state of affairs has yet to arouse a substantial challenge against the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, which the world blames for most of the upheaval in the Balkans.A walk through the streets of Belgrade or other Serbian towns is a depressing experience. Trade in anything other than food has virtually stopped. According to official estimates, 90 percent of the population spend their entire income on food.

WASHINGTON - Giving the clearest view yet of the unfolding foreign policy of the incoming Bush administration, Secretary of State-designate Colin L. Powell vowed yesterday to vigorously explore the development of a national missile defense, rebuild sanctions against Iraq, ensure Taiwan's security and bolster NATO. At a friendly confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Powell repeated international themes invoked by President-elect George W. Bush during the presidential campaign: promoting free trade, strengthening the military, deploying U.S. troops selectively and being wary of engaging repressive regimes.

WASHINGTON - - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Sunday that the severe sanctions the West is threatening against Iran could force a change in the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions, especially since the country already is under severe economic distress. Speaking as officials from six world powers were preparing to meet with Iranian negotiators this Thursday to discuss Tehran's nuclear program, Gates noted that the unemployment rate is 40 percent among Iran's young people and asserted that past economic sanctions "are having an impact."

Two signs sit in front of West Baltimore's Bethel A.M.E. Church, one of the oldest African American churches in the country. One sign says, "Free South Africa." That sign seems to have been there for as long as I've been in Baltimore: nearly 20 years.The other, featuring the colors of South Africa's African National Congress, reads, "Abolish Apartheid. Keep Sanctions." As far as I can tell, it is brand new.Here's the irony: The older sign is still relevant after all these years. The struggle for freedom for black South Africans continues despite breathtaking progress toward the dismantling of apartheid and the establishment of a new constitution guaranteeing South Africans of all races the right to vote.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The United States, in an effort to stem the fighting in Yugoslavia, has joined the European economic sanctions against Belgrade and will co-sponsor a U.N. resolution that could lead to an oil embargo, President Bush announced yesterday.The step was the strongest yet by the United States to bring pressure on the warring Serbs and Croats, whose battles have taken thousands of lives.Mr. Bush warned that such violent nationalism could produce the kind of political instability that plunged Europe into two world wars this century.