March 14, 2003	Friday	Muharram 10, 1424

NEW YORK, March 13: France, Germany and Russia on Thursday spurned British proposals for breaking a deadlock over a fresh UN resolution, and the United States was lukewarm to them from the start, insisting that the original resolution was the only document on the table now.

During an incredibly busy day of intense diplomatic activity on Wednesday, Britain with slight support from the United States, circulated its six “benchmarks” to the Security Council members that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had to fulfil to avoid war.

Britain went even further, offering to abandon the March 17 ultimatum if members approved its list of disarmament tests for Saddam. The resolution would then implicitly threaten Iraq with “serious consequences” if it failed to comply.

“This is a trial balloon, if you like, to see whether this is a way out of our current difficulties ... to see if we can keep the council together,” said Britain’s UN Ambassador, Jeremy Greenstock.

Britain is desperate to get UN approval for military action to avert a political uproar that threatens the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

British diplomats had initially expected the United States and Spain to co-sponsor the conditions, but they did not.

In the absence of a support even from the US and Spain, Britain discussed the proposals with the six undecided countries _ Pakistan, Chile, Mexico, Angola, Guinea and Cameroon — to solicit their support. But most of them said if the proposals were not part of the resolution, they would not have the legality of the UN mandate.

Should the undecided nations agree to the proposals, British Ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock was reported to have told council members, his country would not hold them to a Friday vote, according to participants of the meeting.

Initially, the six undecided members greeted the British proposals warmly, Greenstock told reporters.

“I got an immediate warm response from those six members of the council,” he said. “If this works it is only way through. Unless you use this repair job, the hole in the ship will sink the ship.”

But France, Russia and Germany viewed Britain’s last-ditch effort to save the resolution with scepticism.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said he “commended the proposal” to the council for consideration, but wanted to see how members reacted “before we embrace it in its entirety”.

If the council starts to rally around the so-called benchmarks, Negroponte said, the United States would be prepared to accept “a very, very, very brief extension” of the March 17 deadline for Iraq to complete the disarmament tests.

Otherwise, he said, last week’s resolution with the March 17 ultimatum remained before the council.

Although the United States claimed it had eight votes in the Security Council, one short of the majority of nine, most diplomats here doubted the American claim.

Pakistan, whose vote was counted as being in favour of the resolution, said that it had not decided “how to vote on the resolution” yet. Pakistan’s UN Ambassador, Munir Akram, told reporters that the “decision on vote would be made in Islamabad taking into account its national interests”.

German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger immediately asked why the proposal was presented only by Britain and not the United States or Spain, saying members had to be certain all the resolutions’ sponsors were behind it.

He said he found it positive the British were trying to bridge the gap. But he said, “You can only put down a number of benchmarks if they can be fulfilled,” adding that the March 17 deadline or even a few days was not long enough.

France, Germany and Russia, however, all dismissed the plan to set Saddam six tests to avoid war, saying the stress was still too much on conflict and not on a peaceful solution.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin rejected the British proposals calling them a “logic of ultimatums”. “It’s not a question of giving Iraq a few more days before committing to the use of force. It’s about making resolute progress towards peaceful disarmament, as mapped out by inspections that offer a credible alternative to war.”