UN Resolution on Iraq

[akpower]

On Saturday, March 1 the US and UK will be presenting a 2nd UN resolution authorizing military action against Iraq. As most would know by now, the resolution needs positive votes from 9 out of 15 security council members, without any vetoes. Following are the members of the security council apart from the veto-wielding permanent members (US, UK, France, Russia and China): Spain, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Chile, Mexico, Germany, Syria, and three other African countries I fail to recall.

US, UK, Spain and Bulgaria are guranteed YES votes for the res. The three African nations might be lured by some economic aid. That leaves us with two more votes. The Pakistani public is already quite upset by the presence of FBI and CIA, and even Pakistan's support for the Afghanistan war last year. All this public sentiment would make it very difficult for Musharraf to support a war in another Muslim nation.

Germany and Syria will not be supporting any action even after a res. Mexico and Chile are at odds as well. France, Russia and China want the inspections to continue right now. So lets keep our fingers crossed and see how things shape up.

[Mystery Man]

The three African members are Guinea, Cameroon and Angola.

[akpower]

Security Panel Talks on Iraq End Bitterly


UNITED NATIONS - A Security Council meeting on Iraq ended in bitter disagreement Thursday with council members unable to agree on basic issues such as a timetable for weapons inspectors to report next to the council. Diplomats described a terrible atmosphere within the council, which met behind closed doors for four hours Thursday.

The council is split between those who are supporting the Bush administration's calls for the use of force to disarm Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), and d others, led by the French, who want to continue weapons inspections. At the end of the session, French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said the majority of the council still opposed a U.S.-backed draft resolution and he pushed the French proposal for additional time for inspections.

Ambassadors said there was little actual discussion about the merits of the U.S. resolution, which is backed by Britain and Spain, or the French proposal. And they couldn't agree on when the chief inspectors should next report to the council or how they should proceed with their work in the meantime. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites)'s office was reviewing a 17-page report from chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix detailing the work of his staff in Iraq over the past three months. In the report, Blix says inspections have produced "very limited" results so far, according to diplomats who read the report.

Other sections of the report cited positive examples of Iraqi cooperation, but said it was "hard to understand why a number of the measures which are now being taken could not have been initiated earlier. If they had been taken earlier, they might have borne fruit," Blix wrote. Blix said Wednesday that Iraq still hasn't committed to disarming but he appeared to push for continued weapons inspections as a peaceful way to disarm Saddam Hussein.

Russia has been pushing for a diplomatic solution to the crisis but in a telephone call Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) and President Bush (news - web sites) pledged to continue consultations on Iraq, the Kremlin said.

The U.S. draft resolution authorizing war was presented earlier this week by the United States, Britain and Spain. There was some evidence that Bush was gaining ground for military action, including signals that Mexico had changed its strong anti-war stance and was now preparing to back the U.S.-driven resolution.

Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca was in Pakistan on Thursday to lobby for its vote.

Islamabad has not revealed whether it would support the U.S. resolution, although Pakistani diplomats had said privately they would likely abstain in any vote. There's almost no possibility that Pakistan would vote against the United States, and some within President Pervez Musharaff's administration say Islamabad is considered voting with Washington.

But some undecided council countries, such as Chile, pushed for a Canadian plan aimed at reconciling bitter differences between the U.S. resolution and the French-led proposal. Chile's ambassador said Mexico also was interested in finding a middle ground within the council.

The Bush administration on Wednesday rejected the Canadian ideas, which were aimed at giving Iraq until the end of March to complete a list of disarmament tasks that inspectors are compiling.

Blix welcomed recent Iraqi letters that contained new information about its weapons programs but said they did not represent "full cooperation or a breakthrough."

Nonetheless, he noted that inspections resumed only in November after a four-year break and asked: "Is it the right time to close the door?"

[Dil he Pakistani]

"Cameroon cannot support U.S. ambitions to dominate and dictate to the rest of the world,"

Cameroon opposed to war against Iraq - govt aide Reuters

YAOUNDE, March 4 (Reuters) - Cameroon, a temporary member of the U.N. Security Council, is opposed to war against Iraq and thinks weapon inspectors should be given more time, an aide to the country's foreign minister said on Tuesday.

"Cameroon cannot support U.S. ambitions to dominate and dictate to the rest of the world," he told Reuters, warning that unilateral U.S. action against Iraq would be very regrettable. "It would be sad if it should be the world's leading power that starts the destruction process of the U.N. system," said the aide to External Affairs Minister Francois Xavier Ngoubeyou.

"Cameroon is opposed to war," added the aide, who declined to be named. "We agree Iraq should be disarmed but through peaceful means." Cameroon is one of three African non-permanent members of the 15-member Security Council along with Guinea and Angola and has been a target of lobbying by different Council members before a pending vote on a resolution paving the way for war.

Of the three, Cameroon probably has the strongest ties to France which along with Germany and Russia is lobbying members to prevent the adoption of the resolution and keep inspections going for at least another four months. Ngoubeyou said on the sidelines of last week's Non-Aligned Movement summit he had not made his mind yet on whether to back the resolution.

However, Cameroon President Paul Biya is close to France's President Jacques Chirac and is generally expected to fall in line with Paris. The United States and Britain are pushing the new resolution which declares that Iraq has failed to meet its obligations to dismantle its banned weapons systems, which they want to put to a vote in the Council next week.

Weapons inspectors are due to deliver their latest report on Iraqi disarmament on Friday. "Our response was that the situation had changed, since Iraq was now cooperating with U.N. inspectors and destroying its weapons. So we think peace should be given a chance by giving the inspectors more time to complete their work," the aide said.