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Powell told Syria that Iraq was “being given a peaceful way” out of the crisis
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DAMASCUS,
November 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – French President
Jacques Chirac, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN chief Kofi
Annan asked Syria to vote for UN resolution on Iraq, adopted
unanimously by the Security Council on Friday, November 8.
Chirac
phoned Friday, November 8, his Syrian counterpart Bashar el-Assad
before the UN Security Council vote on Iraq. The Chirac-Bashar
conversation came just before the resumption of talks at the UN
Security Council on a new draft resolution on Iraq, Chirac's office
said.
The
conversation took place "within the context of consultations
preceding the Security Council's vote on the resolution," a
statement read.
Syria,
one of the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council, has said
it would like time to study the U.S.-drafted text, which threatens a
tough response if Iraq hampers the work of weapons inspectors, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) said.
France,
which campaigned to eliminate from the draft resolution any grounds
for automatic use of force against Baghdad, announced earlier Friday
it was satisfied with the final text and wanted a unanimous vote in
favor.
Syria,
the only Arab country currently on the Security Council, said it had
voted for the resolution after receiving assurances from the United
States and Britain "that this resolution will not be used as a
pretext to strike Iraq," AFP said.
Earlier,
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell sent a message to Syrian Foreign
Minister Faruq al-Shara to help seal the Arab state's support for U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1441 on disarming Iraq, the Syrian SANA
news agency reported.
In
a message sent before Syria joined its partners in the Security
Council in passing a unanimous vote in favor of the U.S.-drafted
resolution, Powell said Iraq was being given a peaceful way out of the
crisis.
Syria
expressed reservations on the resolution which had been under
discussion for seven weeks and called for a delay of Friday's vote.
Powell
told Shara that "the final version of (the resolution), following
Syrian, French and Russian amendments, offers Iraq a chance to
eliminate its weapons of mass destruction in a peaceful way",
SANA said.
The
United States "would not have gone to the trouble of discussions
over these past weeks with Security Council members if its intention
had been to use the resolution as a pretext to declare war" on
Iraq, Powell said.
Otherwise,
Powell added, Washington would not have taken on board the concerns of
fellow members of the council such as Damascus.
Meanwhile,
UN chief Kofi Annan also played a role in swaying Syria by defending
the resolution in a telephone call with President Bashar al-Assad, AFP
said.
Annan,
for his part, told Assad that "all the ambiguous paragraphs (in
the resolution) which could allow the United States to resort to force
against Iraq have been withdrawn" from the final text, according
to SANA.
He
also stressed that "the United States has committed itself to
return to the Security Council in case the (UN arms) inspections teams
encounter difficulties in their work," before launching military
action, SANA said.
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Iraq:
- Text of U.N. Security Council Resolution on Iraq
- EU, Germany, Canada Welcome U.N. Resolution on Iraq
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- Bush, Blair Warn Iraq of Military Action If Defying U.N. Resolution
- Chirac, Powell, Annan Asked Syria to Vote For UN Iraq Resolution
- U.N. Unanimously Votes to Start Arms Inspections in Iraq
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