April 4, 2003	Friday	Safar 1, 1424

STRASBOURG, April 3: The 45-nation Council of Europe on Thursday said it “firmly condemns” the US attack on Iraq and called on the countries involved to bring it to an end.

The Council’s parliamentary assembly, which brings together members of parliament from all member countries, adopted a resolution describing the war as “illegal and contrary to the principles of international law.”

A simple majority of votes is required to adopt a resolution, and MPs present represent both government and opposition parties from their respective countries.

The resolution said that the use of force against Iraq was not justified, and that there was “no evidence that (Iraq) posed a threat to the states which attacked it”.

The council went on to express regret for the divisions revealed by the crisis, “between Europe and the United States, between European countries and between some governments and the majority of their people”.

The parliamentarians present reaffirmed their support for the strategic alliance between Europe and the United States, but warned that this alliance must not be exploited to confront Europeans with unacceptable choices (or) divide them.

The assembly has been meeting in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, where the Council has its headquarters.

CURBS ON MEDIA: The European Broadcasting Union on Thursday protested at restrictions it said the US military had imposed on reporters trying to cover the war in Iraq without accompanying US or British forces.

The EBU, an association of state and commercial broadcasters which includes the BBC, Italy’s RAI, Germany’s ARD, ZDF and French channels, said US and British forces were forcibly removing so-called “unilateral” journalists found in southern Iraq who were not assigned to specific military units.

“US Central Command policy is now actively restricting independent newsgathering from southern Iraq,” EBU Secretary-General Jean Stock said in a statement released in Kuwait.

Stock said the EBU noted with dismay that the treatment appeared to be particularly aimed at organisations from countries whose troops were not participating in the US-led invasion of Iraq which started on March 20.

He said the policy had put some camera crews in danger in southern Iraq as they had resorted to operating clandestinely.

“As a result journalists are now exposed to a much greater risk and the coalition targets the quality of their reporting,” he said.

The EBU said it had initially welcomed a US military decision to place journalists with specific units in order to report the conflict from the frontlines, but said only a small number of European journalists were favoured with so-called “embedments” with US and British units.

“They have created a caste system with embedded journalists, journalists — usually from countries in the so-called coalition who can associate with the troops — and the truly unilateral broadcaster who is prevented from coming anywhere near the news,” EBU head of news Tony Naets said in the same statement.

A US military spokeswoman in Kuwait City told Reuters she knew nothing about reporters being forcibly returned to Kuwait.

A British military officer in Kuwait, when told of the EBU complaint, said southern Iraq was still an unsafe area.

“The battle space is not safe. It is not in your interest to be there,” said Colonel Chris Vernon. “You, as media, have already had people killed there.”

Four journalists are known to have died during the conflict. Terry Lloyd, from Britain’s Independent Television News, was killed when the vehicle he and three colleagues were travelling in came under fire on the way to the southern city of Basra early in the war.—Reuters