The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday, extending its emergency arrangements for running the oil-for-food program in Iraq until June 3.
The 15 members of the council voted unanimously for the resolution providing for a technical rollover of the arrangements while they discuss the future of the program in post-war Iraq.
The program, which started in December 1996 to offset the impact of crippling economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1990, provides for nearly all of Iraq's 23 million people.
The Security Council placed the program under the responsibility of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for 45 days on March 28, shortly after the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq. The arrangements were due to expire on May 12.
The technical rollover extends the arrangements to June 3, the end of the current six-month phase of the program.
(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2003)
