By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The Security Council March 26 worked on a resolution that would authorize Secretary General Kofi Annan to use more than $8 billion in the oil-for-food program to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of Iraqi civilians.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said that the United States "is fully supportive" of the proposal to allow the secretary general to make adjustments to the oil-for-food program, which has been on hold since the beginning of hostilities in Iraq.

"As far as we are concerned the key point is to give the secretary general the authorities and the flexibility -- which he has asked for -- in order to deal with the situation in Iraq under the oil-for-food program," Negroponte said after a private meeting of the Security Council to review an initial draft of the resolution.

Annan sent a letter to the council on March 19 suggesting how the oil-for-food program, which has been operating since 1996, could be changed to meet Iraqi civilian needs in the current situation. Council members have been meeting at the so-called "expert level" to draft a resolution that could then be reviewed at higher policy-making levels of governments.

In his letter, Annan pointed out that during hostilities in Iraq, the primary responsibility for ensuring that the Iraqi population is provided with adequate medicine, health supplies, food, and other essential civilian needs rests with the authority exercising effective control in the country. But the United Nations also can play a role in meeting immediate humanitarian needs under the oil-for-food program on an interim basis, he said.

The secretary general pointed out that council would have to give the oil-for-food program, which is already administered by the United Nations, the authority to review existing contracts and make changes, renegotiate with suppliers, or cancel contracts in order to meet the needs of Iraqis affected by the hostilities as the United Nations sees them. The U.N. will also have to make changes in delivery routes and work with countries to adjust export procedures, as well. Those changes will require a mandate from the Security Council.

There are currently approved and funded contracts for purchase of humanitarian supplies totaling about $8.9 billion that have not yet been delivered, or in U.N. terms are "in the pipeline." In those contracts are about 6.2 metric tons of food. Another $5 billion in contracts have been processed but approval has not been issued due to the lack of funds, U.N. officials said.

The funds are the proceeds of Iraqi oil sales, which go into a U.N. administered escrow account.

According to U.N. officials, 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people depend on the oil-for-food program for 80 percent of their food each month.

Under the current oil-for-food program, the United Nations distributed the humanitarian supplies in the three northern Kurdish governorates. The Government of Iraq distributed the supplies in the 15 governorates in the center and south of the country under a plan approved and supervised by the U.N. Now, the U.N. will have to distribute the supplies throughout the country, the secretary general said.

Negroponte pointed out that the council is focusing on the oil-for food program itself and not long-term reconstruction of Iraq. Nevertheless, he added, as far as the United States is concerned "the resources, the natural resources including the oil resources of Iraq, and the revenues therefrom must be used entirely for the benefit of the people of Iraq."

Diplomats said that the council had made great progress on the resolution and after more work by the "experts" on legal and technical issues the members hope to be able to vote on the resolution by the end of the week. They spoke of the urgent need to move quickly to meet the immense humanitarian needs.

The oil-for-food supplies would be in addition to emergency relief operations being planned by other U.N. humanitarian agencies. U.N. officials said that those agencies will be launching an appeal for funds in about a week.