France ratcheted its opposition to war on Iraq to a new level this evening, calling for a UN Security Council vote on a US-sponsored draft resolution by heads of state and government.
The decision between war and peace "entails a vision of the world and a conception of the role of the United Nations," French Foreign Minister Mr Dominique de Villepin told the council.
"If this choice is to be made in conscience, in this womb of international democracy, heads of state and government should meet here, in New York, at the Security Council, before their people and the world," he said.
The council met in formal session for the first time since the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a draft resolution on February 24th seeking UN authority for military action to strip Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.
But De Villepin said France "will not allow a resolution to pass which would authorise the automatic use of force."
"Force is certainly not the best way of bringing about democracy," he said, adding that it would encourage "dangerous instability" in Iraq and elsewhere.
"The use of force would fan the flames of grudges and hatred and fuel a clash of civilisations, he warned.
"No one ignores the cruelty of this dictatorship and the need to do everything to promote human rights," he added, "but that was not the aim of Resolution 1441."
The inspectors' reports showed "signs of real disarmament" in Iraq, de Villepin said.
They showed that Iraq posed less of a threat to the world than it did in 1991, the year of the Gulf War, he added.
De Villepin said France was in favour of an accelerated timetable for the arms inspections in Iraq but was against any ultimatum to Iraq.
He also proposed that the inspectors "report in stages every three weeks."
AFP