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France "will not allow a resolution to pass which would authorize the automatic use of force," said De Villepin
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UNITED
NATIONS, March 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In a stormy
session of the U.N. Security Council on Friday, March 7, to scrutinize
a new report on Iraq weapons inspections, schemes of the war axis of
the U.S., Britain and Spain, were upset by unwavering opposition to
the use of force against Iraq championed by the anti-war camp of
France, Russia, Germany and Chine.
With
the strongest words echoing in the Security Council hall, French
Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin bluntly underlined that his
country "will not allow a resolution to pass which would
authorize the automatic use of force."
"Force
is certainly not the best way of bringing about democracy," he
said, adding that it would encourage "dangerous instability"
in Iraq and elsewhere.
"The
use of force would fan the flames of grudges and hatred" and fuel
a clash of civilizations, he warned.
France
is in favor of an accelerated timetable for arms inspections in Iraq
as reports of U.N. weapons inspectors show "signs of real
disarmament", De Villepin said, undermining a
U.S.-British-Spanish proposal of March 17 to be a deadline for the
Security Council to decide whether to disarm Iraq by force.
He
proposed that U.N. weapons inspectors "report in stages every
three weeks," about progress on the ground, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
The
deadline was put forward in an amendment to a draft resolution put
tabled by the three pro-war countries on February 24.
The
earlier draft declared that Iraq had failed to take the final
opportunity to disarm peacefully offered to it by the Security Council
resolution 1441, adopted on November 8.
The
amendment declares that Iraq will have failed to do so "unless,
on or before March 17, the Council concludes that Iraq has
demonstrated full, unconditional, immediate and active
cooperation" with the U.N. inspectors.
"Real
Disarmament"
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| "We do not need more security council resolutions, we have had enough of these," said Ivanov |
The
proposed deadline came in clear contrast with calls for a diplomatic
solution to the crisis spelt out Friday by several Security Council
members.
Russian
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov stressed his country was still opposed to
any resolution authorizing military aggression against Iraq,
especially that the Arab country is showing "real
disarmament."
"We
do not need more security council resolutions, we have had enough of
these," he told the session attended by 11 foreign ministers.
The
Russian top diplomat pressed for "more support for the U.N.
weapons inspectors."
Ivanov
said that the inspections up to now had been working and that Iraq had
shown a changed attitude even though it must give more cooperation to
the United Nations.
Russia,
a veto-wielding state, has hinted to the possibility of vetoing any
war resolution in the Security Council.
China,
another veto-wielding country, joined the peace camp with a firm call
for more inspections in Iraq.
"It
is true that there also exist difficulties and problems, that is why
it is necessary to continue the inspections," said the Chinese
Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.
"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," he stressed.
"Real
Alternative"
German
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told the Security Council meeting
that Iraq has made "important" progress in cooperating with
arms inspections, snubbing any new resolution on the crisis.
"Given
the current situation and the ongoing process, we see no need for a
second resolution," he averred.
"This
is important progress, it shows that peaceful disarming is possible
and that it is a real alternative to war," Fischer said.
"Why
should we leave the path we have embarked on now that the inspections
based on resolution 1441 are showing viable results," he
wondered.
"Inspections
should be stepped up, accelerated," Fischer told the Security
Council, adding that "the aim of disarming Iraq has to be pursued
energetically and systematically."
"Catalogue
of non-Cooperation"
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| "I still find what I heard this morning a catalogue of non-cooperation," claimed Powell |
On
the front of war-mongers, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
attempted to undermine chief U.N weapons inspector Hans Blix's appraisal
of Iraq's "proactive" cooperation with the U.N. weapons
inspectors.
"I
still find what I heard this morning a catalogue of
non-cooperation," claimed general Powell.
He
claimed the Iraqi moves were not genuine "initiatives", as
Blix described them, because they had not been taken freely but rather
under the threat of conflict.
"They
have been pulled out or have been pressed out by the possibility of
military force," Powell said.
"If
Iraq wanted to disarm, the cooperation would be voluntary and even
enthusiastic, not coerced."
Blix
hailed Iraqi cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors as substantive
and proactive, adding that the disarmament process would take months.
"Iraq's
current behavior ... reveals its strategic decision to continue to
delay, to deceive, to try to throw us off the trail," Powell
alleged.
"Colleagues,
now is the time for the council to send a clear message to (Iraqi
President) Saddam Hussein that we have not been taken in by his
transparent tactics," Powell said.
Defending
the tabled new draft resolution, Powell said Washington "believes
that the resolution that has been put forward for action by the
council is appropriate and in the very near future we should bring it
before this council for a vote."
"The
clock continues to tickle and the consequences of Saddam Hussein's
continued refusal to disarm will be very, very real," he said.
Powell
claimed Iraq had made a strategic decision not to comply and said
Baghdad's steps did not amount to the voluntary, active cooperation
demanded by U.N. resolutions.
In
an exchangeable stunt for Paris, Powell rejected a French proposal for
the U.N. Security Council to meet at the level of heads of state and
government to vote on the U.S.-sponsored draft resolution to disarm
Iraq by force.
"At
the moment I don't see a particular need for a heads of state or
government meeting at the Security Council," Powell told
reporters following the meeting.
During
the meeting, the French foreign minister said the decision between war
and peace entailed a vision of the world and a conception of the role
of the United Nations.
"If
this choice is to 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.
"Strategy
of Impotence"
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| The only way "we are going to achieve the disarmament of a rogue regime... is by backing our diplomacy with a credible threat of force," said Straw |
British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whose country is a staunch supporter for
U.S. war plans, alleged the only way "we are going to achieve the
disarmament of a rogue regime... is by backing our diplomacy with a
credible threat of force."
"Nobody,
not one minister before this council... has said that Iraq is now
fully, actively and immediately in compliance with [UN resolution]
1441," he said.
Spain,
another member in the war camp, rejected as "a strategy of
impotence" calls for sending more inspectors and giving Iraq more
time.
"Disarming
Iraq is not a question of more inspectors or more time, this, to quote
a French thinker, is merely a strategy of impotence," Spanish
Foreign Minister Ana Palacio told the U.N. Security council.
She
said continued inspections only could be conducted "on the basis
of a radical change in the Iraqi regime's willingness to disarm, and
up to now the Iraqi regime has given no sign of being willing to
disarm."
Undecided
Nations For Peace
The
U.S calls for a military solution to the crisis have not even swayed
countries Washington kept on calling undecided nations.
Defying
pressures, non-permanent member states Mexico, Chile and Cameroon
urged more inspections in Iraq and hoped the standoff be solved
peacefully.
The
U.S draft needs nine votes and no vetoes to be approved in the
Security Council, so positions of these countries are of an importance
to the war coalition.
"We
are for inspections," Cameroon's ambassador to the United
Nations, Martin Belinga-Eboutou told council.
He
welcomed Blix's report that showed Iraq had started to cooperate with
U.N. inspectors.
Mexican
Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said his country felt the United
Nations should seek a peaceful, multilateral way to disarm Iraq.
"Mexico
is convinced that all roads must be explored ... and that every
opportunity must be taken advantage of to resolve this matter
peacefully," Derbez said.
"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 said.
"The
use of force can only by invoked once all peaceful means to disarm
Iraq have been exhausted," said Alvear.
