IRAQ: US negotiators seemed to be closer to persuading the UN to authorise a potential military invasion of Iraq yesterday after France gave a strong indication that it would drop its objections.
The deadlock on the Security Council seemed much nearer to being broken when the US unexpectedly took its new draft resolution to the full council of 15 on Wednesday night in an effort to galvanise permanent members France, Russia and China, which have opposed the plan.
The decision means that the resolution could go to a final vote as early as next week, and weapons inspectors would be in Baghdad as little as 10 days later.
But Russia remained implacable, and diplomatic sources said Washington's best hope now was probably that Moscow would not formally veto the strategy.
"The French have come around in the last several days to the fact that the US means business and wants a tough resolution, otherwise it is not going to go the route of the UN," an anonymous diplomatic source said.
The French ambassador, Mr Jean-David Levitte, said ambiguities remained in the US plan, which could lead to "a crisis".
But officials in Paris have been quoted as saying that France would not block a proposal approved by Mr Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, and Mr Mohammed el-Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Authority.
Of the other permanent members of the council, Britain promised to co-sponsor the proposal and China remained non-committal. The biggest hurdle for US diplomats will be Russia's objections.
Moscow objects to the US draft because, while it does not refer explicitly to military action, it threatens Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with "serious consequences" if he does not comply with inspections, and twice accuses him of being in "material breach" of earlier resolutions.
Russia says the wording implicitly authorises President Bush to use military force without returning to the Security Council for authorisation by a second resolution.
"There frankly isn't any movement," the diplomatic source said, referring to the Russian position. "The US hope is that they will not veto it, but I don't know if they can come up with a resolution that would satisfy the Russians.
"I don't know how much of it is posturing, but I don't get the sense that it's posturing. I don't think at this point that would change unless instructions were to come from the very top in Moscow to be flexible."
Mr Sergey Lavrov, the Russian ambassador to the UN, said: "Unfortunately, so far we have not seen changes in the text which would take into account these concerns. We cannot agree to automaticity in the use of force [or to] load inspectors, against their wishes, with unimplementable mandates."
The council is due to discuss the draft again today. It needs nine votes, and no vetoes by the permanent members, in order to pass.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington could be flexible on the details, but not on the words "material breach" or "serious consequences".
The US draft authorises inspectors to declare no-fly and no-drive zones around the facilities they want to inspect, and to escort the relevant staff out of Iraq for questioning.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri called the plan a "flagrant violation" of the UN, and "akin to war against the United Nations". He said: "This draft resolution presented by the United States, which it amended for the worse, is an insult to the United Nations and to the international community."- (Guardian Service)