- AFP) -- Only the United Nations has the legitimacy to
reconstruct Iraq, said the leaders of Germany, France and Russia in comments
likely to further sour their relations with Washington.
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- Russian President Vladimir Putin, who held talks with
French counterpart Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
here, said that the positions of the anti-war trio on Iraq "have not
changed."
-
- "The main thing now is to restore civilian life
and to resolve humanitarian problems. We believe all these issues should
be resolved under the aegis of the United Nations," he told journalists
in Russia's second city Saint Petersburg.
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- "Only they (United Nations) have the necessary legitimacy"
to rebuild Iraq, said Chirac.
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- The reconstruction has to happen "under the umbrella
of the United Nations. We need to work out the details with the coalition
but we need to agree on the concept," said Schroeder.
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- The comments by the three European powers that fiercely
opposed the US-led war on Iraq are likely to put them on a fresh collision
course with Washington over the best way to handle the aftermath of the
war.
-
- Under Washington's plans, retired US general Jay Garner
is expected to run Iraq's postwar interim administration.
-
- After an initial phase that is expected to last at least
six months, he would turn over the country's administration to an interim
Iraqi authority made up of a broad spectrum of Iraqi political groups.
-
- But Putin dismissed the notion that the insistance of
the anti-war camp on a central role for the UN would further fracture bruised
transatlantic relations.
-
- "The goal of our meeting is not to rupture the international
community," he said, but rather was part of "the search for international
security in the 21st century."
-
- Nevertheless, some of his comments were less than conciliatory.
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- "We are not going to export capitalist, democratic
revolutions," Putin said. "If we do, we're going to end up on
a slippery slope to non-ending military conflicts. We can't let that happen."
-
- And Chirac, for his part, implicitly criticized US and
British forces for failing to rein in looters in Iraq amid a collapse of
law and order.
-
- "In accordance with the laws of war, it is up to
the US and British forces, as powerful occupiers, to maintain order and
create the conditions for the provision of humanitarian aid," he said.
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- Schroeder struck the most conciliatory tone of the trio.
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- "I don't want to talk about the past," he said.
"We have to make (a military victory in Iraq) a lasting victory for
Iraqis and for the whole region."
-
- Friday marked the first time Putin has made a public
statement on Iraq since US troops rolled into Baghdad to scenes of jubilation
from residents and Saddam Hussein's regime crumbled.
-
- "It is good that the Saddam Hussein regime has fallen.
We have said for a long time he had to be brought down. We did not defend
him, we said it should not be done by force," the Russian leader said.
-
- The trilateral talks came after a top military hawk in
Washington dealt Moscow a blow by suggesting that Russia should forget
about recovering the billions of dollars Iraq owes it in Soviet-era debt.
-
- "I hope for example they'll think about the very
large debts that come from money that was lent to Saddam Hussein to buy
weapons," and then write off those debts in a gesture to help Iraq
rebuild, US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Congress.
-
- Moscow at first appeared to be stunned by the statement,
but Putin said later that Russia was ready to consider the suggestion under
the framework of the Paris Club of sovereign debtors.
-
- "We are prepared to look into this question. We
are prepared to discuss this," as early as the G8 summit planned for
June in Evian, France.
-
- Hopes that the trilateral summit would achieve its goal
of promoting a central role for the United Nations have been in doubt,
however, since UN Secretary General Kofi Annan cancelled his attendance
earlier in the week.
-
- Annan initially said he would attend the summit but later
retracted, apparently not wishing to be so closely associated with UN Security
Council members strongly opposed to the US action.
-
- And British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is known to
favour a stronger UN role in Iraq, also turned down an invitation from
Putin to attend the gathering, Downing Street said.
-
- Putin, Schroeder and Chirac are each due to give a speech
Saturday on the final day of their summit.
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