The UN Security Council will resume talks Wednesday on a new arms inspection regime for Iraq, as Qatar requested an Arab summit to discuss possible US miliary action against Baghdad.
The United States is taking a final revision of its Iraq resolution to the Security Council in hopes of winning approval after eight weeks of negotiations.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States expected to "circulate a revised resolution shortly and then proceed to a vote thereafter." The draft, which would strengthen the UN weapons inspection regime in Iraq, has been reworked by top officials including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
While the revised draft offers major concessions to critics, it still frees the Bush administration to take military action against Iraq without a second resolution.
The five veto-wielding permanent members have made considerable progress in six weeks of discussion on US proposals to strengthen the UN weapons inspection regime in Iraq, but major differences persist between them, Boucher added.
Among the five permanent members, Britain backs the draft, while France and Russia have led a tough diplomatic campaign to amend it. In an effort to meet French and Russian concerns, the new U.S. draft gives Saddam Hussein "a final opportunity" to comply with U.N. inspectors, holds out the possibility of lifting sanctions against Iraq, and adds a reaffirmation of Iraq's sovereignty, according to The Associated Press.
The new U.S. draft would require U.N. inspectors "to report immediately to the council any interference by Iraq with inspection activities, as well as any failure by Iraq to comply with its disarmament obligations."
The Security Council would then convene immediately "to consider the situation and the need for full compliance" by Iraq — but the U.S. draft makes no mention of adopting a second resolution, leaving Washington free to act.
China -- which holds the council presidency this month -- has been discreet about its voting intentions, but both US and French officials say it is in the Franco-Russian camp.
Meanwhile, Qatar has submitted an official request to the Arab League for an Arab summit on the crises facing Iraq and the Palestinian territories, a senior Arab official said. The request was contained in a letter from Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem ben Jabr al-Thani to Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, said the official, according to AFP.
Qatar said in the message that the time was ripe for an Arab summit "to discuss the means with which the Arabs will deal with the current situation in the Middle East, as the Security Council prepares to issue a new resolution" on Iraq, the official said.
In another development, the party that gained landslide victory in Turkey's general election said it objected US military action against Iraq especially since Baghdad was ready to cooperate with the United Nations, Anatolia news agency reported.
"The US does not have the support of its own public opinion and there are problems with putting such an operation within the framework of international legitimacy," Yasar Yakis, the deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party, said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
