COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ADOPTION OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION
(17 December 1999)
Paris, December 17, 1999
1. The Security Council has just adopted a resolution following a year of negotiations instituted after the weapons inspectors left Iraq and the events of December 1998. During this period, France has spared no diplomatic effort to rebuild Security Council unity in support of a realistic solution to the Iraqi crisis. Since January, we have proposed both the reinstatement of a renewed inspection system in Iraq and the principle of easing sanctions.
2. We are pursuing two objectives. The first is to ensure regional security. To this end, inspectors must return to Iraq to monitor weapons. This cannot be achieved by force. Iraq's cooperation is necessary. The second objective is to resolve the disastrous humanitarian situation in Iraq by proposing a lifting of civil sanctions. These strike unjustly and harshly at the Iraqi people. These two objectives are partially connected: it is futile to expect Iraq's cooperation without a credible prospect regarding the future of sanctions.
3. With regard to these objectives, the resolution includes three positive elements. First, the creation of a renewed arms control commission. It will be professional and independent, and will operate on a more collegial basis to avoid having a single person make the most important decisions. Second, the prospect of a suspension of sanctions, the first step toward their lifting, offers a new incentive for the Iraqi authorities. And finally, humanitarian measures will begin providing relief to the people of that country.
4. In order to convince Iraq to accept the return of the inspectors, we had proposed a temporary suspension of sanctions after a brief probationary period. That idea, which was accepted by everyone, now constitutes the core of the resolution.
We wanted, however, a simple, objective and credible criterion for deciding on the suspension of sanctions. That criterion is the observation of progress in Iraq's cooperation with the new arms control commission. That notion was indeed included, but the wording remains ambiguous in the text that was voted upon. We would have liked to see a greater effort to eliminate that ambiguity in the writing of the text. Indeed, it does not give the Security Council's approach the full force of an incentive, which was desirable. In particular, the text of the resolution lends itself to biased interpretations that, by moving away from the notion of progress, would in fact have as their objective an indefinite delay of any decision on sanctions. Such an attitude can only lead to new crises.
That is why we are abstaining.
5. Since January we have asserted that the Security Council must turn toward the future. This is more necessary than ever before. We will be very vigilant with regard to the implementation of the resolution in accordance with its spirit and its objectives. The Council must now approve the appointment of the new president and the organization of the arms control committee, and define the humanitarian measures. This could be an opportunity to rid the text of the resolution of its final ambiguities and to regain the Council's unanimity, for the full exercise of its authority.
If, as we hope, the Security Council demonstrates a will to work in a spirit of consensus to clearly and realistically apply the guidelines set forth in this resolution, France will contribute to it without reservations or limits./.
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