March 17, 2003	Monday	Muharram 13, 1424

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PARIS, March 16: In a new declaration issued here, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Russia have asked that the UN inspectors be allowed to continue their work as “nothing justifies the recourse to force” and also send a message to Baghdad that it “cooperate actively and without reserve.”

The declaration — which was issued by the three foreign ministers, Dominique de Villepin, Joschka Fischer and Igor Ivanov, to coincide with the meeting in the Azores of leaders from the United States, Spain and Great Britain, also noted that it is “incumbent” on each member of the Security Council “to avoid its division at this crucial moment” and asks that the Security Council meet at ministerial level on Tuesday (March 18) in New York to set up a new calendar.

The joint declaration also noted how the pro-peace party at the Security Council is “supported by the immense majority of the international community.”

According to the declaration, the “common objective of the international community is the disarmament if Iraq in conformity with the decisions of the UN Security Council, and notably Resolution 1441, as unanimously adopted which, to bring this about, foresees a system of inspections without precedent.”

Furthermore, they declare, “we reaffirm that nothing under the present circumstances justifies either the renunciation of the inspection process nor the recourse to force.”

The declaration also noted that “the successive reports of Messrs Blix and Elbaradei to the Security Council have shown that inspections do produce results.”

“We are engaged in the disarmament of Iraq, and all indicates that it can be brought to term and rapidly so all the while respecting the rules that the Security Council has fixed. Iraq, for its part, must cooperate actively and without reserve.”

“France, Russia and Germany, supported by China, have presented proposals to attain this objective by the hierarchisation of the key tasks of the disarmament process, and the establishment of a tightened calendar.”