UN ends key sanctions on Iraq

UNITED NATIONS - Vice President Joe Biden chaired a Security Council meeting Wednesday that passed resolutions lifting key sanctions that were imposed on Iraq after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, setting the stage for two U.S.-led wars against Iraq.

The 15-member council abolished the oil-for-food program, which allowed Iraq to sell oil to finance the purchase of humanitarian goods, and the Development Fund for Iraq, which consolidated Iraq's oil export proceeds into a fund for economic development. The lifting of a third resolution ends restrictions on Iraq to develop a peaceful nuclear program.

Biden said the moves highlight the progress Iraq has made in becoming independent after the devastating wars launched by the U.S.-led coalitions of nations after the 1990 invasion and also in 2003.

"The Iraqi people have emerged from the depths of sectarian violence and they flatly reject the grim future offered by extremists," he said. "Iraq is on the cusp of something remarkable."

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said: "The new Iraq is significantly different from Saddam's Iraq," welcoming the resolutions. Saddam was captured, tried and executed in 2006 after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"The adoption of these important resolutions marks the beginning of the end of the sanctions regime and restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty, independence and recovery," Zebari said. "Our people will rejoice for having turned a chapter on the aggressive, belligerent and defiant behavior of the previous regime toward international law and legitimacy."

The resolution concerning the Development Fund for Iraq ends international management of the fund on June 30, 2011.