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UNITED NATIONS, March 7: The United States clashed bitterly with China, France, Germany and Russia at the UN Security Council on Friday, as all four nations stood firm against US plans to launch an invasion of Iraq soon.
A mixed report from UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix left the major powers more divided than ever on the looming attack, which US President George Bush has threatened to launch with or without United Nations approval.
However, going to war without UN approval would be certain to stoke an already powerful anti-war movement around the world, intensify anti-American sentiment and could shake the political support of important allies, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told the UN council weapons inspections must continue in Iraq.
“Much progress has been made in the weapons inspections,” Mr Tang said after a report from chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix.
“It is true that there also exist difficulties and problems, that is why it is necessary to continue the inspections.
“There is no reason to shut the door to peace. Therefore, we are not in favor of a new resolution, particularly one authorizing the use of force,” Tang said.
France ratcheted its opposition to war on Iraq to a new level on Friday, calling for a UN Security Council vote on a US-sponsored draft resolution by heads of state and government.
The decision between war and peace “entails a vision of the world and a conception of the role of the United Nations,” French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told the council in public session.
“If this choice is to be made in conscience, in this womb of international democracy, heads of state and government should meet here, in New York, at the Security Council, before their people and the world,” he said.
“France will not allow a resolution to pass which would authorise the automatic use of force,” de Villepin said.
The inspectors’ reports showed “signs of real disarmament” in Iraq, de Villepin added.
De Villepin said France was in favour of an accelerated timetable for the arms inspections in Iraq but was against any ultimatum to Iraq.
The security council met in formal session for the first time since the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a draft resolution on Feb 24 seeking UN authority for military action to strip Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.
The council meeting began with a briefing by the chief weapons inspectors, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, which gave a largely positive account of more than three months of inspections.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said he found it “incomprehensible” that the world community could abandon peaceful efforts to disarm Iraq and opt for a war that would bring death and destruction to thousands of innocent people.
“Peaceful disarmament is possible and there is a real alternative to war,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Mr Bush hours before the UN debate that Moscow was determined to press for a diplomatic solution.
He also told Mr Blair by telephone that a diplomatic solution to the Iraqi crisis was still possible.
So far, Washington has public commitments from only Britain, Spain and Bulgaria, while five nations are opposed and six remain publicly uncommitted.
Of the neutral nations, Mexico remained on the fence on Friday. Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said all parties should keep working for consensus.
PAKISTAN STANCE: Pakistan said on Friday that Iraq posed no immediate threat to international peace and security and the cost of war would be greater than the cost of taking more time for inspections.
“The cost of delay in our view will be much less than the cost of war,” Pakistan’s UN ambassador, Munir Akram, told the UN Security Council following the progress report on Iraqi disarmament.
Mr Akram acknowledged the presence of United States and British troops in the region had been key to Baghdad’s improving cooperation with UN inspectors.
“However, we believe that there is no imminent threat to international peace and security,” said the envoy.
CHILE’S CALL: Chile, a security council member, on Friday called for stepped up weapons inspections as a means of disarming Iraq without war.
“A last chance for peace lies in a sharp increase in inspections ... with fixed stages and concrete demands reflecting the sense of urgency imposed by resolution 1441,” Chilean Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear told the council meeting.
“The use of force can only by invoked once all peaceful means to disarm Iraq have been exhausted,” said Alvear.
GERMAN LAWMAKERS: Two German opposition lawmakers are to visit Baghdad on Saturday at the invitation of the Iraqi Chaldean Catholic community, their political parties said.
Anti-war parliamentarians Willy Wimmer of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Peter Gauweiler of the Christian Social Union (CSU) will remain in the Iraqi capital until Tuesday, and will attend mass on Sunday, their parties said.
Around half a million Iraqis, including Deputy Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, belong to the Chaldean church, an eastern form of Catholicism which recognizes the authority of The Vatican.
Gauweiler is one of the few politicians from the conservative CDU-CSU union to come out publicly against US preparations for an invasion.
The two parties, allied in the German parliament, have tended to support the US hard line, in contrast with unswayed opposition to war expressed by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s ruling Social Democrats.
—Reuters/AFP
