PARIS: France has finally rallied behind the United States and Britain over Iraq despite earlier insistence on an independent foreign policy.
France has backed the US-British proposal for a new United Nations Security Council resolution on Iraq even though it ignores its demand to give an Iraqi administration veto right in military matters.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier announced on Tuesday that France would approve the UN resolution because "for the first time there has been a real dialogue between the United States and Europe on the Iraq question."
Mr Barnier admitted that the newest US-British draft for the resolution - the fourth within a month - left out French amendments that sought to empower the Iraqi government to veto "offensive military operations" launched by the US-led occupation forces.
But Mr Barnier said the new UN resolution is "a return to a situation where international law is again valid" in Iraq. The US government "has finally understood that there won't be a resolution of the Iraqi crisis through military means, that it is necessary to return to a political process to end this tragedy, to give the Iraqi people a legitimate government," Mr Barnier said.
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, France could have vetoed the US-British resolution. Along with France, other countries such as Germany, Algeria, Mexico, Chile, Russia and China also gave up their opposition to the US-British draft, and approved the document.
France has additionally accepted the US demand to partially cancel the Iraqi foreign debt. French President Jacques Chirac announced last week that his government will cancel up to 50 per cent of the 5 billion dollars Iraq owes France.
Iraq's foreign debt amounts to some 120 billion dollars. The US government is asking creditors to write off 90 per cent of this debt. France had opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq in March last year.
It has maintained that position, but in the course of ceremonies to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day last week, Mr Chirac and US President George W. Bush put their conflicts aside. -Dawn/The Inter Press News Service.
