- (AFP) -- With Arab leaders confident of Baghdad's acceptance
of a United Nations resolution on Iraqi disarmament, details of the Bush
administration's war plan were leaked to media, while hundreds of thousands
of people marched for peace in Italy.
-
- Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told an
Arab League foreign ministers meeting here that Baghdad had accepted the
UN resolution after it obtained assurances from UN Security Council member
Syria the resolution does not foresee automatic recourse to military action.
-
- "The Arab ministers welcomed Iraq's acceptance of
Resolution 1441, following assurances from Syria that this resolution does
not provide for automatic military action (against Baghdad)," al-Faisal
told reporters in Cairo, after the meeting ended early Sunday.
-
- The foreign ministers of the 22-member Arab League were
meeting to debate the United Nations' new resolution 1441 that was adopted
unanimously on Friday by the 15-member UN Security Council, including sole
Arab member Syria.
-
- Separately, however, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri
at a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Faruq al-Shara, said Baghdad was
still "studying the resolution," and added that Iraq had still
"not announced its position."
-
- Baghdad intends to pursue talks here later Sunday, Sabri
said.
-
- Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher also noted "statements
at the highest level in Baghdad on the readiness to cooperate with any
resolution which carries assurances that it does not foresee a military
strike."
-
- The new measure imposes a stringent arms inspection regime
on Baghdad and warns of "serious consequences" if it does not
disarm. It gives President Saddam Hussein until November 15 to accept the
text.
-
- But Syria said it had voted for the resolution on disarming
Iraq after receiving assurances it would not be a green light for a US-led
strike on Baghdad.
-
- "In no provision of this resolution is there anything
that allows countries to take unilateral action," Syria's deputy ambassador
to the United Nations, Fayssal Mekdad, told the BBC.
-
- State radio in Damascus reported Saturday that Syria
voted in favour of the resolution only to avoid a US military strike on
Baghdad which would benefit Israel.
-
- Meanwhile the New York Times reported in its Sunday edition
that US war plans on Iraq approved by President George W. Bush include
a shorter air campaign than in the 1991 Gulf War, but deployment of up
to 250,000 troops.
-
- The air campaign would last less than a month and would
build on lessons learned in Afghanistan, such as using infiltrated commandos
to help guide precision-guided missiles to their target, acccording to
the Times, quoting unnamed senior administration officials.
-
- The plan also envisions US forces capturing three zones
-- in northern, western and southern Iraq -- to be used as operational
bases, the Times reported.
-
- "While we would not want to kill many Iraqi soldiers,
if they stupidly fight, we will," a senior military official told
the Times.
-
- The war plan was approved well before the Friday vote
at the United Nations, according to the Times.
-
- In London, comments by Britain's International Development
Secretary, Clare Short indicated tensions on the Iraq policy within Prime
Minister Tony Blair's cabinet.
-
- Earlier Saturday, Britain's ambassador to the UN, Jeremy
Greenstock, said a new UN resolution may have to be hammered out if Iraq
refuses to cooperate with UN inspectors.
-
- Iraqi state-run television has reiterated that the country
was free of the weapons of mass destruction, which were supposed to be
scrapped under Resolution 1441.
-
-
- Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected
by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence
you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any
way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the
prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
|
