Schroeder Favors Second U.N. Resolution on Iraq

14/01/2003| IslamWeb

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Tuesday he was in favor of a new U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq, contradicting suggestions by German diplomats that a new vote would not be needed."It is likely that the European partners and also others will work toward a second decision and I also think that is sensible," Schroeder told a news conference.
Germany began a two-year term on the 15-seat Security Council on Jan. 1 along with four other newly elected members.

Schroeder has repeatedly said Germany will not take part in any military action against Iraq but has left open how Berlin might vote in any Security Council debate on using force.

German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer had suggested in recent days that the Security Council resolution agreed last year to put pressure on Baghdad to readmit weapons inspectors could be sufficient for a military strike.

"Germany wants resolution 1441 to be fully implemented and naturally Iraq must cooperate in that. We want to achieve the implementation of this resolution without war," Schroeder said.

Some commentators had suggested that Germany wanted to avoid a new vote in the Security Council now it was a member as it could lay bare strains within Schroeder's ruling coalition of Social Democrats and Greens over any Iraqi war.

The Security Council might be forced to vote on possible military action after U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq report back to the body on January 27. But Schroeder said that date should not be seen as a point of no return.

"January 27 does not mark the end of inspections, but is an intermediate stage," Schroeder said.

If it does come to a new vote on the Security Council, which Germany is due to chair in February, Schroeder said Germany would coordinate its position with its close partner and veto-holder France, but left open how Berlin would vote.

"Germany will not take part in a military action in Iraq and this basic position will form the foundation of the behavior of those who represent us in international forums," he said.

"We have agreed that we, France and Germany, will work very closely together in this question, bilaterally and at the European level, but also with respect to the U.N. Security Council."

Britain Reserves Right to Iraq Action Without U.N.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tuesday that Britain reserved the right to take military action against Iraq without a second U.N. resolution.

Straw reiterated that if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein  defies an existing United Nations resolution on disarmament, Britain's preference was for the U.N. Security Council to pass a second resolution authorizing military action.

Britain's preference "is that we have a second Security Council resolution...which we want...we've had to reserve our rights if we can't achieve that," Straw told BBC Radio.

He recalled that the British Parliament in November backed a motion that reserved "the right to deal with the matter without a United Nations resolution if that was the situation." The government's position has not changed since then, he said.

Britain's Chancellor of the Excheckr (Finance Minister) Gordon Brown also said Tuesday that there were circumstances where war with Iraq may be necessary without U.N. backing.

Britain and the United States say they know Saddam has weapons of mass destruction and say he must disarm or be disarmed by force. A United Nations resolution threatens Iraq with "serious consequences" unless he comes clean about suspected weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. and British troops are moving into the Gulf region to prepare for a possible war although there are conflicting signals on the timing of any possible attack.

Monday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair  refused to put an "arbitrary timescale" on the work of U.N. inspectors who are scouring Iraq for signs of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Straw refused to be drawn on the likelihood of war -- after he said last week that the chances of war were 60:40 against -- but he insisted there would be military action if Saddam does not disarm or "actively cooperate" with inspectors.

"If Saddam does not accept the peaceful path to disarmament of his weapons of mass destruction set out by the U.N. resolution then there will have to be military action to enforce the will of the United Nations," Straw said.

"Saddam has to actively cooperate, if he does that then the chances of military action are much reduced," he added.

DIVISIONS OVER WAR

Straw said Britain was waiting for a report from chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix after he had made a tour of Western capitals in coming days, and "above all" after Blix had inspected the situation on the ground in Iraq next week.

Blix is set to make a full report on his findings in Iraq to the U.N. Security Council on January 27. Blair Monday asked reporters to give him a few more weeks and then ask again if Saddam was harboring illegal weapons.

Straw said the British government would try and give the lower parliament, the House of Commons, a chance to vote on any military action in Iraq before it went ahead, unless it jeopardized soldiers' safety.

He said there were wide-ranging discussions within the British cabinet over Iraq, when quizzed about media reports that government ministers were split on the issue.

Echoing Straw, Brown said in a television interview on Tuesday that Saddam could not be left "unpunished" if he refused to disarm and said there were circumstances where war may be necessary without a U.N. mandate.

"There may be circumstances where that is necessary, but we still want to go through the United Nations," Brown said in an interview with GMTV television.

PHOTO CAPTION

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder addresses the media following a meeting of the Social Democratic party SPD in Berlin, January 10, 2003. Schroeder may have pulled a rabbit out of the hat in winning last year's general election, but he will need all his conjuring skills, and luck, to survive a myriad of troubles in 2003. Strikes, spiraling unemployment, a soaring budget deficit, strife over Iraq and yet more elections are all potential pitfalls for the him and his government in the coming months. Photo by Tobias Schwarz/Reute