UNITED NATIONS, 11 March 2003 — The United States and Britain made no public headway yesterday in their drive for a UN resolution setting a March 17 ultimatum to Iraq, while Russia and France remained firmly opposed and poised to use their vetoes.
Meanwhile, a report carried by Asharq Al-Awsat said an Arab ministerial committee, set up by the Sharm El-Sheikh summit, will officially tell Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that he must quit to avert a devastating war.
At the UN Security Council, ambassadors began new consultations, but chances of the resolution coming to a vote today appeared to be receding since Washington and its allies were still far from mustering the nine votes needed and even seemed to be losing ground. The resolution would set March 17 for Iraq to satisfy all Security Council resolutions that it was fully cooperating with disarmament demands.
President George W. Bush worked the phones to foreign leaders, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Secretary of State Colin Powell was meeting the foreign minister of Guinea, Francois Ousseynou Fall, and called top officials in Angola, Mexico and Pakistan. Powell said on Sunday there was a “strong chance” of getting nine or 10 votes.
But a source in Pakistan’s ruling party said his country would abstain. If that happened, Washington would need all five of the remaining uncommitted votes on the Security Council for the resolution to succeed.
Even if it won nine votes, a veto from any of the five permanent members of the Security Council would kill the resolution. France, Russia and China all oppose the draft and France and Russia said again yesterday they were determined to defeat. The French foreign minister traveled around Africa lobbying three Security Council members for “no” votes.
“Whatever happens, France will vote ‘no’,” French President Jacques Chirac said on LCI television in his first televised interview on the Iraq crisis. “France will vote ‘no’ because she considers tonight that there is no reason to wage a war to reach the goal we set ourselves, that is the disarmament of Iraq,” he said.
“Russia thinks that now there is no need for any new UN resolutions, and that is why Russia has openly declared that if the draft that has been submitted for consideration and that contains demands that cannot be fulfilled is put to vote, Russia will vote against this resolution,” said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.
So far, only the United States, Britain, Spain and Bulgaria support the resolution. Aside from France, Russia and China, Germany and Syria are definitely opposed. The other uncommitted nations are Chile, Mexico, Angola, Cameroon and Guinea. Chile said Saturday the March 17 time frame was too short
In The Hague, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that if military action were taken without the authority of the Security Council, “the legitimacy and support for any such action would be seriously impaired.” Bush has said he was ready to launch a war against Iraq with or without United Nations backing.
