PUTRAJAYA/BAGHDAD, 16 October 2003 — Iraq’s Governing Council hit out yesterday at objections from countries, including France and Russia, to the US proposed draft resolution on the future of the country, accusing them of ignoring the wishes of Iraqis.
“The problem with the French and Russian proposal, they have not been talking to the Iraqis to discuss what kind of counter proposal they are submitting to the Security Council,” said the current head of the Iraqi council, Ayad Alawi, on the sidelines of an Islamic summit here.
He said this contrasted with the attitude of Spain, the United States, Poland and Britain, “who have been engaged in dialogue with the Iraqis, with the Governing Council on the proposed resolutions in the Security Council.”
“We don’t know what the Russian resolution is, what kind of proposal they are presenting. And we, the Iraqis, would reject any proposal which is to be imposed on us.”
Russia said yesterday it remained disappointed with the latest US draft resolution on Iraq and urged the United Nations not to vote on the proposal in its current form.
But it also hinted that talks were too far advanced for Moscow to stamp its veto on the resolution and suggested instead that Russia would instead abstain if its views were not taken into account.
Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said Russia had reservations over “two or three key issues” presented in the US plan Tuesday.
“In its current form, (the resolution) should not be put to a vote,” Russia’s point man on negotiations over Iraq said.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov urged the US to seek a more acceptable compromise so that the draft is approved by all 15 UN Security Council members in a move granting the resolution more international legitimacy.
Ivanov also dismissed a report in the Washington Post, which said that France, Russia and Germany have dropped their demands that the United States grant the UN a central role in Iraq’s reconstruction and yield power to a provisional Iraqi government in the coming months.
“We are favorable to a political solution within” the framework of the United Nations, Ivanov said, adding that this was not possible as long as an Iraqi government had not been set up.
The US late Tuesday circulated a revised draft UN resolution, which ignored a request from France, Germany and Russia to suggest a timetable for the end of the US occupation in Iraq.
The fourth version of a text that Washington hopes can convince wary nations to contribute cash and troops for Iraq appeared to underscore the US insistence that it alone will decide when to end its control over the country.
Proposed changes from the three nations, backed by China, had tried to spell out a formal end to the occupation once Iraqis elect a new government and had put in a request for dates to be provided by the US.
The US draft makes no mention of a date on sovereignty and instead stresses that Iraqi independence will come only when a new government “assumes the responsibilities” of the US occupation administration.
However, the US-appointed council clashed with the world’s Islamic states meeting here, threatening to veto a resolution over plans for the transition from US occupation to sovereignty.
The heart of the dispute appears to be an Islamic states’ demand for a defined timetable for the withdrawal of US troops with the United Nations taking a central role in the transition. Iraq’s interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said changes had been made to the council’s initial draft and correct procedures had not been followed at preparatory meetings for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit opening here today.
He said that with a new US resolution before the Security Council, there was “a high possibility” that Iraq would ask at the summit for a postponement of a decision on the OIC resolution.
The OIC resolution calls for the UN to play a “central role in Iraq, covering all aspects of transition: political, security and economic” and for the Security Council to set a “defined and clear timetable for the withdrawal of occupying powers as soon as possible.” The chairman of the council, Ayad Alawi, said here yesterday Iraq will “definitely” hold elections in 2004.
“In 2004, definitely,” he told reporters when asked about a date for elections.
He said the council had established a committee to draft a constitution that would be put to a referendum, and then elections would be held to form a government.
“We hope the international community will understand that at that stage it is very important to transfer the full sovereignty to the Iraqi people, once the institutions of Iraq are fully operational,” he said.
In Iraq, meanwhile, one person was injured yesterday when police fired shots to disperse demonstrators marking the anniversary of a pro-Saddam referendum and protesting a new currency that no longer features the ousted leader’s face.
Chanting, “All Iraq says yes to Saddam,” the demonstrators marched through the streets of Baqubah, 60 km northeast of Baghdad.
Police fired shots, mostly in the air, but wounded one passer-by in the arm, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
The protest marked the anniversary of a referendum that Saddam staged in 1995 and again in 2002 and in which he invariably got unanimous support.
