13 March 2003
No Agreement Yet on Iraq Resolution
(Negroponte: Process continues, but time is short) (920) By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The Security Council March 13 failed to find any common ground on the United Kingdom's proposal for changes in the draft resolution on Iraq currently up for a vote. After four hours of private talks, diplomats acknowledged that the proposal not only failed to bridge the divide in the council, but the council's so-called "undecided six" non-permanent members were beginning to work on their own proposal for a resolution. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said "I can't say that we are much farther along today than we were yesterday. But in diplomacy, you know, sometimes you have to give the process a little bit of time to work. Consultations are going on as we speak, informal ones, and there will be another round of discussions tomorrow. We will just have to see how that process goes." "We haven't yet been able to reach any kind of understanding on that (U.K.) document but the process continues and the elected six are also apparently doing some work to contribute some ideas to this process. But we'll have to see how that works out," Negroponte said. "We're willing to go the extra mile, but at the same time, I would have to say that time is really running out," the U.S. ambassador told journalists after the private council meeting. U.K. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said that his delegation's proposal for six steps that Iraq must take to prove it was seriously eliminating its weapons of mass destruction "created a lot of interest." But he acknowledged that council members wanted to wait for a report next week from the head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) on the weapons inspectors' program of work that is due next week. Nevertheless, Greenstock said, any council proposals must take account of the standard set in resolution last November's Security Council Resolution 1441 that Iraq's cooperation must be full, immediate and unconditional or face serious consequences. In addition, he said, "we need to know there is traction on our proposal before we change the date" of March 17 that is now in the draft resolution before the council. The U.K. proposal was an attempt to overcome the reluctance of six undecided non-permanent members to accept the draft as it stood. The undecided members are Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico, and Pakistan. France and Russia, which have veto power in the council, have rejected the U.K. proposal as well as the draft resolution. Mexican Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser said that "the Government of Mexico has instructed me to carry out some diplomatic activities here in looking for a consensus in the council." Aguilar said the he could not discuss the proposals publicly and the foreign ministry in Mexico will make any announcements on its position. Chilean Ambassador Gabriel Valdes said that "we are not negotiating the British draft. We are putting other ideas." He said they include a list of "doable" tasks for Iraq to complete in a longer timeframe, after which the council would meet to determine if Baghdad complied. Both the United Kingdom and the United States said that they will not call for a vote March 14 on the draft resolution they currently have before the council, thus permitting continued consultations. The United States, United Kingdom, and Spain presented their original draft resolution that declared Iraq had failed to take advantage of its final opportunity to disarm to the Security Council in late February and, in a subsequent revision March 7, gave Baghdad a final opportunity to comply by March 17. In U.N. terms the draft is in "blue," which means that the sponsors can call for a vote at any time. Negroponte said that "the issue is disarmament of Iraq and resolution 1441. We have a resolution on the table. ... We do not intend to put it to a vote tomorrow, but it could be put to a vote at any time." The ambassador said that the United States agreed to the new negotiations in the council "particularly in light of the U.K. initiative of yesterday to go the extra mile to reach some kind of basis for understanding in the council," but he noted that the U.S.-U.K.-Spanish draft is still "on the table." "I will not speculate on what options we have beyond that, because we are really dealing with this situation now on a day-to-day basis," the U.S. ambassador said. "It has been a protracted process and, obviously, time is running short," Negroponte added. The ambassador said the U.K. proposal does not reflect any changes in the U.S.-U.K. position about a new resolution on Iraq. "We have given the British proposal our support. We are in coordination. What we have said is we don't want to commit to those proposals in their entirety until we see what kind of traction they get with other members of the council," he said. "We don't see any sense in committing to them fully and finally if it turns out that other council members simply aren't interested," Negroponte said. The question is, the ambassador said, "whether Iraq is in compliance. We do not believe it is. It is time for the council to face up to its responsibilities and decide Iraq is out of compliance." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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