THE US/ IRAQ: After a flurry of high-level negotiations among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States is expected to present its long-awaited draft resolution on disarming Iraq to Council members today.
Amid speculation that the US had dropped some of its harsher conditions for new weapons inspections after talks with France and Russia, Ireland's ambassador to the UN, Mr Richard Ryan, said that any decision to enforce Iraqi compliance "must be taken by the Security Council" in full accordance with the UN Charter.
"The resolution should make it clear that the Council will take any necessary decision to enforce compliance, if Iraq does not co-operate as required," Mr Ryan said, outlining the position of Ireland at an open session of the Security Council.
Ireland, one of 10 elected members on the 15-member Council, believed inspectors should, as soon as possible, begin disarmament under existing resolutions and under any new provisions, Mr Ryan said. If Baghdad again refused to co-operate, then Iraq must "face its responsibilities".
The Irish statement implied but did not state specifically that Ireland was opposed to a resolution that would include an immediate trigger to use force in the event of non-compliance, as the US has demanded. France and Russia back a two-stage process with a second resolution to authorise force if Iraq fails to co-operate.
Iraq is already in non-compliance with UN resolutions and Ireland would not make a final judgment until the text of the US resolution is made available, diplomatic sources said.
The possibility that Washington has softened its original draft - heavily leaked in recent weeks and containing conditions unacceptable to other Council members - arose when Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov said in Moscow yesterday that "a new draft of the Anglo-American resolution will take into account the Russian viewpoint". Mr Ivanov spoke by telephone with US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell on Wednesday evening and said Mr Powell told him he wanted to reach a consensus.
Mr Ivanov stressed however that a resolution should aim to secure the quickest possible return of inspectors, and not authorise automatic use of force against Baghdad, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Rumours circulated in the UN that the new US draft dropped some tendentious provisions such as armed UN escorts for weapons experts, and implied rather than authorised the use of force if Iraq did not co-operate.
Non-aligned countries were invited to state their views to the Security Council in an unprecedented debate that began on Wednesday, and many non-aligned countries pleaded for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.
India said that the debate was "a defining moment in the way relations among states are ordered" while Lebanon summed up Arab concerns by pointing out that Israel consistently defied UN resolutions, including Resolution 687 in 1991 establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
Mr Ryan said that it was a matter of "grave concern" when any member-state ignored the will of the international community, and singled out Iraq for failing to implement previous resolutions. He blamed Baghdad primarily for the suffering in Iraq caused by economic sanctions, saying these would have been removed if there had been full compliance. Iraq had also defied the Security Council in failing to return or account for Kuwaiti nationals, he said.
Ireland welcomed Iraq's agreement to accept the return of inspectors but Iraq "must co-operate fully with the inspectors, hold nothing back and allow full, free and unfettered access to all places in the country, to all relevant documentation and to all relevant personnel ... including presidential sites," Mr Ryan said.
"The Resolution should insist on unfettered access for the arms inspectors, it should clarify the modalities, remove ambiguities and facilitate their work, so as to ensure effective inspection of all sites. The Resolution should leave no doubt that Iraq must come into compliance and do so without delay or further attempts to evade" its obligations.
Weapons inspectors were authorised by the UN after the 1991 Gulf War. They left in 1998 ahead of a US and British bombing campaign.