UN Security
Council to discuss date for quarterly
inspection report
The UN
Security Council will meet on Wednesday
afternoon to decide when to hear the chief
inspector's briefing on his quarterly
inspection report, sources said.
The 15-member
council, badly divided on how to proceed with
Iraq's disarmament, will hold a closed
consultation on the issue on Wednesday
afternoon. French favors a later council
meeting in mid-March, a source close to the
French Mission told reporters.
Ewen Buchanan,
spokesman for the UN Monitoring, Verification
and Inspection Commission, told reporters
earlier that the commission had proposed to
brief the council on the latest quarterly
report on March 7. He added the schedule is
tentative and has to be approved by the
council.
The report, due
March 1, may contain a "cluster"
listing some 30 "key outstanding
questions" needed to be clarified by
Iraq.
A joint
Memorandum by France, Germany and Russia asked
the chief inspectors to go one step further to
submit by Friday a program of work outlining
the key remaining disarmament tasks for Iraq
to accomplish.
Anti-war
protesters launch virtual march on Washington
Hundreds
of thousands of anti-war protesters in the
United States made calls and sent faxes or
e-mails to senators Wednesday as part of a
"virtual march on Washington."
Tom Andrews,
the national director for the Win Without War
Coalition, the group that organized the
protest, said that at least 200,000 people had
signed up on the Internet to take part and
tens of thousands or more were expected to
participate without registering on the group's
website.
"We will
let out fingers do the marching and demand
that our voices be heard," Andrews said
in a statement.
The telephone
lines of many lawmakers were paralyzed for
several hours as a result of the call-in
campaign, which organizers said aimed to
direct at least one telephone call to every US
senator every minute throughout the day.
Participants
were also asked to call and fax the White
House.
Hundreds of
thousands of anti-war protesters have taken to
the streets in a series of demonstrations over
the past few weeks in an effort to dissuade
President George W. Bush from waging a war
against Iraq. Bush has said he would not be
deterred by global antiwar protests.
France
reiterates opposition to new resolution on
Iraq
French
President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday
reiterated France's opposition to any new
resolution on Iraq.
Meeting with
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar,
Chirac said, "We think there is no reason
that justifies going beyond resolution 1441
and so we are opposed to any new
resolution."
France and
Spain share the same objective to eliminate
the arms of mass destruction of Iraq, but do
not share the same opinion on the means to
achieve this objective, said Chirac at a joint
press conference with Aznar.
"France
thinks that there is a possibility of
achieving this goal through peaceful means,
through inspections, and as a result, war is
not inevitable," he said.
"The war
is the worst of solutions. It is a proof of
failure. It is true that on this point we have
differences in opinion with our Spanish
friends," said Chirac.
Aznar, one of
the strongest allies of the United States,
said Spain always considers that the Iraqi
crisis must be resolved within the framework
of the United Nations Security Council.
"In this
framework, a new resolution would be timely in
two respects: to guarantee the central role
played by the Security Council and to put
maximum pressure on the Iraqi regime,"
said Aznar.
"We will
make all possible efforts at a consensus as
large as possible within the Council," he
said.
"A maximum
of pressure on the regime of Saddam Hussein is
the best way to guarantee a peaceful solution
to this conflict," he added.
Chirac and
Aznar made these remarks following a 90-minute
meeting, to which French Prime Minister
Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Spanish Foreign
Minister Ana Palacio were also present.
UN to
support new resolution on Iraq, Blair believes
British
Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that
he believed the UN Security Council would
support a British draft resolution declaring
Iraq's violation of its obligations to disarm.
Backed by the
United States and Spain, Britain introduced a
draft UN resolution on Iraq to the Security
Council members on Monday, saying Iraq has
failed to take a final opportunity to disclose
and get rid of its alleged weapons of mass
destruction.
"We will
have support for a second resolution,"
Blair told the House of Commons, the lower
house of parliament.
"The
situation is very clear indeed, that is why I
believe our strategy of putting down the
resolution and then bringing people round to
the proposition that this was the final
opportunity for (Iraqi President) Saddam
(Hussein) to disarm," Blair told the
lawmakers.
"Saddam
still has the opportunity if he were to take
it of full compliance but so far he has not
done so," Blair said.
Britain, which
firmly supports the US tough line on disarming
Iraq by force if necessary, said on Tuesday
that it would urge the Security Council to
vote on the draft resolution on Iraq within
two weeks, unless Saddam complies fully with
UN arms inspectors immediately.
Blair's
comments came shortly ahead of a full Commons
debate on Iraq, during which many lawmakers of
his ruling Labor Party were expected to defy
him by saying the case for military action
against Baghdad is still unproven.
A carefully
worded government motion urging support for
the UN route to disarm Iraq was expected to be
voted on after the one-daylong parliamentary
debate.
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