A rchive Date
[ 18-03-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.N ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/03/17/45013-ap.html
Allies abandon resolution
Mon, March 17, 2003
UNITED NATIONS (AP) --The United States, Britain and Spain withdrew their resolution on Iraq, blaming a threatened French veto for their decision to abandon efforts to win U.N. backing for military action. President Bush gave Saddam Hussein an ultimatum Monday to leave his country or face a U.S.-led war.
The dramatic announcements, ahead of closed-door Security Council talks on the Iraq crisis, came as U.N. employees appeared to be preparing to leave Baghdad, countries closed their embassies there and some foreign journalists pulled out.
The withdrawal of the resolution represented a crushing diplomatic failure for the United States and the United Nations on the eve of what looks like imminent war. It left the world body bitterly divided and Washington marching toward a military confrontation without international support, which would have been invaluable.
Ending weeks of silence on the issue, Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned military action against Iraq, saying earlier Monday that war would be a mistake that could imperil world security.
But British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock singled out France for threatening to veto the resolution, which would have given Iraq an ultimatum to disarm by Monday or face military action.
"Given the situation, the cosponsors have agreed that we will not pursue a vote." Flanked by U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, Greenstock added that the trio: "reserve their right to take their own steps to secure the disarmament of Iraq."
Weeks of intense diplomacy and pressure from the Bush administration failed to convince a majority of the council's 15 members that the time for war had come.
Still, Negroponte said he thought the vote "would have been close."
"We regret that in the face of an explicit threat to veto, the vote-counting became a secondary consideration," Negroponte said.
Moments later, French ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said that in one-on-one consultations in the past hours "the majority of the council confirmed they do not want a use of force."
Shortly after the ambassadors spoke, the White House announced that Bush would address the nation Monday night. "He will say that to avoid military conflict Saddam Hussein must leave the country," spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "The diplomatic window has closed as a result of the U.N.'s failure to enforce its own resolutions for Saddam to disarm."
He declined to say whether Saddam would be given a deadline.
Saddam said Monday that Iraq once had weapons of mass destruction for defense against Iran and Israel but no longer holds them, the Iraqi News Agency said. The agency said Saddam made the remarks while meeting with a Tunisian envoy. Meanwhile, inspectors in Baghdad claimed they have received no order to leave. But journalists outside the Canal Hotel, the Baghdad headquarters of the inspectors, saw Iraqi U.N. employees leaving with boxes of personal belongings.
On Sunday, the president and his allies from Britain and Spain, meeting in the Azores, announced that they would give the U.N. one day to resolve the diplomatic dispute.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair faces major opposition at home to participating in a war without U.N. backing. On Monday, a senior British Cabinet minister resigned after disagreeing with the government's decision to back military action. Robin Cook, a former foreign secretary, resigned his post as the government's leader in the House of Commons after a private meeting with Blair shortly before a meeting of the full Cabinet, Blair's office said.
The United States, Britain and Spain introduced their resolution last month in hopes of winning U.N. support to disarm Iraq by force. The resolution would have authorized war anytime after Monday unless Iraq proved before then that it had disarmed.
In an effort to change members' positions, Britain offered some amendments but council members weren't swayed.
Earlier Monday in Moscow, a top diplomat said the council would not approve the U.S.-backed resolution. "This draft has no chances for passage," Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov told Interfax news agency. "No additional resolutions are necessary."
Previously, Putin deliberately seemed to be seeking to avoid opposing Washington even as the Russian Foreign Ministry battered home the message that Russia would join France in opposing any U.N. resolution that automatically authorized force.
"We are for solving the problem exclusively by peaceful means," Putin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. He said Russia's position was clear, comprehensible and unwavering.
"Any other development would be a mistake - fraught with the toughest consequences, leading to victims and destabilization of the international situation as a whole," Putin told Chechen spiritual leaders, according to Interfax. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said earlier Monday that France could not accept a second U.N. resolution that includes an ultimatum or resorts to automatic use of force to disarm Iraq. Speaking to Europe-1 radio, de Villepin reiterated France's threat to use its veto in the Security Council to block the resolution.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday that British diplomats would work through the night to try to persuade France to reverse course. But clearly, the efforts didn't yield results.
France was undeterred from the start and scheduled Monday's round of consultations to discuss a joint declaration by Paris, Moscow and Berlin calling for foreign ministers from the 15 council nations to meet Tuesday to discuss a "realistic" timetable for Saddam Hussein to disarm.
The declaration, released Saturday, said there was no justification for a war on Iraq and that U.N. weapons inspections were working.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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