UN: The US and the UK finally reached agreement yesterday on a tough United Nations Security Council resolution which threatens Saddam Hussein with severe consequences if he fails to grant weapons inspectors unfettered access to Iraq.
Hopes of passing the resolution before Iraqi officials meet the chief weapons inspector next week were dashed, however, when Russia, China and France expressed grave reservations about the Anglo-American text.
As British and US diplomats at the UN in New York distributed their proposed resolution to diplomats from the "sceptical three", who all wield the power of veto on the security council, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said he saw no reason for a fresh resolution. In a flurry of diplomatic activity among the three, Mr Putin then discussed the Anglo-American resolution with Mr Jacques Chirac, his French counterpart. Mr Chirac also held talks with Chinese President Zhu Rongji, who is understood to have lent Chinese support to a French proposal to adopt a softer approach to Iraq by tabling two resolutions.
One would call for a tough inspections regime, leaving the prospect of military action to a second resolution which would only be agreed if Iraq flouted the UN. The French initiative has been rejected by the US, highlighting the gulf separating the permanent members of the security council. France, Russia and China are concerned that the US and Britain have drawn up their resolution in such strong terms that President Bush would be able to use the slightest slip up by the Iraqis as a pretext to a military assault.
Britain will try to allay these fears by pointing out that it succeeded in persuading the US to tone down the language threatening military action. The Anglo-American negotiations are understood to have taken longer than expected after Britain insisted that the resolution could not be seen as a "ruse to whack Saddam", as one official put it.
"We wanted to make clear that there is a proper process," the official said. "Saddam Hussein must know he has a choice - comply or face the consequences. But the possibility of compliance must be set out clearly in the resolution." While Britain hopes that this might provide some assurance for the "sceptical three", officials accept that they face a gruelling round of negotiations to agree a final text. A vote on a resolution is not expected to take place until well into next week. The delayed timetable indicates that the security council is unlikely to reach agreement before the chief weapons inspector, Mr Hans Blix, meets Iraqi officials next week.
Washington began fresh negotiations to try to win over the sceptics as soon as Britain and the US agreed a new text. Mr Colin Powell, the secretary of state, telephoned his French, Russian and Chinese counterparts. The US deputy under secretary of state, Mr Marc Grossman, is to travel to Moscow. - (Guardian Service)