|
  |
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Security Council divisions emerge
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- A split Security Council appears to have fractured further following a closed-door session on Iraq. With a Saturday deadline looming for Iraq to begin destroying missiles the United Nations says exceed established range limits, chief weapons inspector Hans Blix plans to tell the Security Council that Baghdad has taken "very limited" steps to disarm. In a draft report -- a copy of which was obtained by CNN -- Blix recommends steps Iraq can take to resolve several outstanding disarmament issues. (Full story) The Blix recommendations have done little to alter Washington's hardline stance, with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell predicting Washington's hard line would win eventual council support. Although details of the meeting were not divulged to the media, clear divisions have emerged among the key players. The United States, Britain and Spain have proposed a resolution declaring Iraq has missed its last chance to disarm. If approved, that could clear the way for a U.N.-led war with Iraq, which Russia, France and China oppose. Russia, France and rotating member Germany have proposed extending inspections and beefing up inspectors' staff, equipment and surveillance capabilities before going to war. And some of the non-permanent members of the Security Council are backing a Canadian plan that would give Iraq a specific list of tasks to accomplish by March 28 in order to demonstrate its commitment to disarmament. But Powell, after meeting with his European Union counterparts in Washington, said, "We don't need a new list of questions." "Everybody knows what [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein should be doing, and if he isn't doing it and shows no indication he's doing it, I think we can present a strong enough argument for the second resolution that we put down," Powell said. Problem handballedThe resolution has the support of rotating Security Council member Bulgaria but faces opposition from three permanent council members -- Russia, France and China -- and rotating council members Germany and Syria. Six of the 10 elected council members -- Chile, Mexico, Angola, Cameroon, Pakistan and Guinea -- remain uncommitted despite intensive lobbying by both sides. After Thursday's meeting, ambassadors from Chile and Mexico blasted the five permanent Security Council powers for failing to resolve their differences and dumping the problem on the council's rotating members. "The millions of people who have expressed their wish for the council to find a way of peace demands the council -- and very specifically, the five permanent members -- to be able to find a process of disarmament of Iraq that will be respected, that will be effective, and will be seen by the world community as a legitimate decision by the Security Council," said Chilean Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdes. Valdes and Mexican Ambassador Alfredo Aguilar Zinser urged council members to reconsider the Canadian plan setting a deadline for Baghdad to perform specific disarmament tasks. Valdes said the council's rotating members want to see the permanent powers make a deal. "This divided council is in fact throwing the decision back on the shoulders of the elected members, while the permanent members stick to their positions without making efforts to approximate their views," Valdes said. Under the Canadian plan, the council would decide after the March 28 deadline whether Iraq was meeting its obligations under U.N. resolutions dating back to the 1991 Persian Gulf War. "We believe that the Canadian proposal has good ideas," Valdes said. "These ideas are not necessarily new, but they are useful at this point in time." But the Canadian plan has no visible support among the permanent members, and British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said it was not discussed in Thursday's meeting. Greenstock said there would be "no future" for weapons inspectors unless they had Iraq's full cooperation. 'Extend inspections'Germany, Russia and France have their own proposal to extend inspections and beefing up inspectors' staff, equipment and surveillance capabilities before going to war. "We do think that there is another option -- reinforcing the inspections, giving a very clear mandate and identifying very clearly what are the key remaining disarmament issues," said Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, the French U.N. ambassador. The latest exchanges come as Iraq faces a Saturday deadline to begin dismantling its Al Samoud 2 missiles, which U.N. experts say have a range beyond the 150 kilometers (93 miles) allowed under U.N. resolutions. (Full story) In a short letter delivered to U.N. weapons inspectors Thursday afternoon, Iraq agreed in principle to begin destroying the missiles, even though it deemed the request unfair.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
