Anti-war leaders to meet in Russia
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Europe's leaders look forward to Iraqis governing their own country.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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LONDON, England -- The leaders of France, Germany and Russia are to meet this weekend to discuss a post-war Iraq, with the likely emphasis on pushing for an increased U.N. role.
French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russia's President Vladimir Putin strongly opposed a U.S-led military attack on Iraq, preferring to work through the U.N. Security Council in supporting longer weapons inspections.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Friday it was up to the United Nations to safeguard international peace and security.
"We hope the United Nations will perform this central role, in particular, in the settlement of Iraq's post-war situation. This authority must be used to achieve a political settlement in Iraq within the shortest time possible," he said.
"This is in the interests of the Iraqi people. This is in the interests of the whole region.''
But U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Los Angeles Times that it was not clear what European leaders were demanding in calling for a central role for the U.N.
"I'm not quite sure what that means,'' Powell was quoted as saying. "They just say 'central' and then they go on to their next meeting.''
"The suggestion that some of my colleagues would give that now that the coalition has done all of this and liberated Iraq, thank you very much, step aside and the Security Council is now going to become responsible for everything, is incorrect. And they know it. And they were told it,'' Powell said.
The meeting in St Petersburg had originally been planned just for Putin and Schroeder but Chirac was added to the guest list as U.S. forces ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Schroeder has said Germany would only contribute to rebuilding Iraq under a U.N. umbrella.
Chirac said his country is "rejoicing" in the apparent collapse of the Iraqi dictatorship. But he wanted Iraq to recover its sovereignty as soon as possible "in a region of stability with the legitimacy that the United Nations gives.''
Putin has made no comment since U.S. tanks rolled into central Baghdad.
