Russia, France and Germany back US resolution on Iraq ( 2003-10-17 03:43) (Agencies)
Iraq war critics Russia, France and Germany agreed on Thursday to back a US
resolution on the country's future despite misgivings but not to give any extra
reconstruction aid, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said.
After a three-way telephone conference with French President Jacques Chirac
and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Schroeder said they would vote for the
resolution for the sake of unity in the UN Security Council and because it
showed some progress.
But he added: "The progress in our view is still not an adequate response to
the situation on the ground in Iraq, and on those grounds, we do not see
ourselves in a position to play a military role there...or to make a further
material contribution beyond what has already been agreed."
France and Germany are contributing to a modest pledge of 200 million euros
($232.3 million) for reconstruction from European Union funds at an
international donors' conference in Madrid next week. They have also offered to
train Iraqi police.
Schroeder was addressing a news conference at an EU summit hours before the
scheduled vote in New York.
"We took note of the fact that the resolution is a really important step in
the right direction. A lot of what Russia, France and Germany had sought has
been included," he said.
He said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had also been somewhat more positive
about the latest draft, which asks the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to
come up with a timetable by December 15 for a return to full self-government.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters: "We would have
preferred in particular that this text set more binding and shorter deadlines
for the transfer of responsibilities and the political transition."
But he said the United Nations had to close ranks in the face of "the spiral
of violence and terrorism in Iraq".
Villepin said he hoped the resolution was only a first step which would be
followed by others.
Critics had sought a clear path for ending the US-led occupation and a bigger
role for the United Nations in supervising the transition.
NO MILITARY OR FINANCIAL ROLE
Chirac spokeswoman Catherine Colonna confirmed the three countries had agreed
they would make no military or financial commitment to Iraq.
She said the three anti-war powers would give a joint statement in the
Security Council to explain their vote later on Thursday, emphasising their
unity on the issue.
The three countries infuriated the United States by teaming up in March to
prevent a Security Council resolution that would have approved the US-led
invasion of Iraq to overthrow President Saddam Hussein.
France threatened to use its veto if necessary, but the issue never came to a
vote because Washington could not muster the necessary nine votes to pass a
resolution.
In Putrajaya, Malaysia, where he was attending an Islamic summit, Putin
stopped short of confirming that Moscow would vote for the latest US draft,
which critics say does not contain a firm enough timetable for ending the US-led
occupation or give the United Nations authority over the transition.
"I have just completed my teleconference with the German chancellor and the
French president and we have coordinated our position," Putin told reporters.
"My ambassador in New York will disclose that position tomorrow or maybe later
this evening."
