May 10, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1424

PARIS, May 9: French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin warned on Friday that if Iraq wants to give itself a “stable” and “legitimate” regime, then the international community will have to be “strongly implicated” in the country’s political future, and that any such participation would mean the attribution of a “central role” to the United Nations.

A statement issued by the Quai d’Orsay said: “The construction of peace calls for the mobilization of everybody. It also necessitates the unity of the international community in order to face up to the vastness of the dangers and the risk of division.

“In this spirit, we have to get on with the establishment of the framework for post-war Iraq, to respond to the urgent questions with regard to security and of a humanitarian nature, and assure the success of the political transition.

“A proposed resolution was transmitted yesterday (to the United Nations Security Council) which is presently under examination.

“As far as France is concerned, we must, as a priority, bring solutions to the questions with which Iraq is confronted today: the regime of the sanctions, disarmament, the management of its petroleum resources, indeed its departure from the ‘food for oil’ programme.

“Faithful to her convictions, France has decided to approach these negotiations in a constructive spirit, in close collaboration with her partners.

“Her objective is to define solutions that conform with the interests of the Iraqi people and enjoy the largest possible support from the international community.”