WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2002
WORLD
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN * 9A*
United States revises United Nations draft resolution
The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — The United States said its revised U.N. draft resolution on Iraq gives U.N. weapons inspectors more elout and puts Saddam Hussein on notice that he faces "serious consequences" if Iraq doesn't cooperate.
But whether the resolution gets the support of the other four veto-wielding council members and the 10 other voting members remains to be seen.
U. S. Ambassador John Negroponte gave the complete draft to envoys from the four permanent council nations — France, Russia, China and Britain — at a meeting Monday.
The draft was being studied in the four capitals, and the five veto-holding nations were to meet again Tuesday.
France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-David Levitt, when asked before receiving the draft whether
an agreement was close, replied: "I don't think so."
There was no official reaction from Russia, but the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies reported Tuesday that Moscow was disappointed with the revised U.S. draft. Quoting unidentified sources, they said it differed little from previous U.S.-British proposals.
France, backed by Russia and China, has led opposition to a U.S. resolution that would authorize the use of force without first giving Iraq another chance to meet its U.N. disarmament obligations. It favors a two-stage approach that would give Iraq a chance to comply and only authorize force in a second resolution if Baghdad obstructed inspections.
inspections. The United States, supported by Britain, has circulated a single resolution that it says will allow the use of force if Saddam fails to comply.
"This is the text which will accomplish our goals, identifying the violations of U.N. resolutions by Iraq, mandating and giving the inspectors authority to carry out strong and unrestricted inspections and making clear that the council is determined to ensure that there will be consequences if Iraq fails to comply," he said.
U. S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday the United States wants to wrap up negotiations with the new text.
Last week, Washington backed down from its demand that the resolution authorize "all necessary means" and agreed instead to let inspectors go to Iraq and report any violations to the Security Council.
The new U.S. draft would then have the council convene immediately to discuss the situation but U.S. officials have said this does not commit the Bush administration to waiting for council
The U.S. proposal includes phrases that could be interpreted as triggering military action, wording that could raise disagreement from the French, Russians and Chinese, council diplomats said.
action before it acts.
One refers to Iraq being in "material breach" for violating U.N. resolutions, a phrase that some legal experts say could open the door for a response.
Another recalls that Iraq has been repeatedly warned that it could face "serious consequences," the council diplomats said.
As in the original U.S. draft resolution, the new one stands by a demand that Iraq make a complete declaration about its programs to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles within 30 days, the diplomats said.
It has also kept its demand that
Iraq accept the new resolution within seven days of its adoption, they said.
In order for a resolution to pass, it needs a minimum of nine "yes" votes from the 15 council members, and no veto by a permanent member.
The 10 elected council members haven't yet seen the text.
Council diplomats said they expect negotiations in the full council to focus on new terms for inspections.
The new U.S. text keeps a key U.S. demand, requiring Iraq to provide inspectors with immediate and unconditional access to all sites—including presidential complexes which are currently exempt from surprise searches, U.N. diplomats said.
A proposal to let inspectors take Iraqis and their families outside the country for interviews remained in the resolution, though current inspectors say this poses serious problems, for example if an Iraqi being questioned wanted asylum.
The new draft also keeps a proposal for U.N. security forces or U.N. member states to protect inspectors in no-fly, no-drive zones — but leaves it in brackets as it was in the original draft, meaning it is still being debated, the diplomats said. Many current and former U.N. inspectors oppose being accompanied by security forces and diplomats predict this provision will be dropped.
The new U.S. draft already dropped a proposal to allow the five permanent council members to be represented on inspection teams, the diplomats said. Many U.N. officials said this would politicize inspections.
Inspectors must certify that Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs have been destroyed before sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait can be lifted.
Concerns abound with weapons program
The Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean negotiators struggled Tuesday to persuade North Korea to address concerns over its nuclear weapons program, South Korean pool reports said.
After the North's ceremonial head of state expressed willingness to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue, officials of the two sides met through the night but failed to reach agreement, said reports from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
"The only remaining issue is whether North Korea would accept our demand regarding the nuclear issue," the pool reports quoted an unidentified South Korean negotiator as saying.
South Korean journalists said North Korean officials were reluctant to include in a joint statement any reference to the principle of negotiating a solution
to the nuclear issue.
A final session between the top negotiators, scheduled for Tuesday morning, was delayed as lower-level officials tried to find a compromise, the reports said.
compliance Rodong Sinmun, a state-run North Korean newspaper, said in an editorial Tuesday that the United States should "opt for reconciliation and peace, not strong-arm policy."
"The U.S. is now calling for 'arms reduction' of the DPRK, making a hue and cry over its 'threat.' But such row does not stand to reason and it will get the U.S. nowhere," said the editorial, which was carried in English on KCNA, the North's news agency
DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The three-day, Cabinet-level talks, which opened Sunday, were meant to discuss inter-Korean reconciliation but the North's nuclear issue took priority. No foreign journalists were allowed to cover the talks.
On Monday, the North's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong Nam, said his country was ready to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue as long as the United States withdraws its "hostile" policy toward the North.
"I believe we can deal with this threat peacefully, particularly if we work together," President Bush said Monday.
South Korea believes dialogue is the best way to deal with concerns over the North's nuclear program. It is uneasy about the possibility of a new security crisis
The North's position was at odds with the United States, which views the communist country's nuclear weapons program as a nonnegotiable issue. Washington vows to muster international pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear ambition.
on the Korean peninsula, similar to one in 1994.
That crisis was resolved after North Korea signed a deal with the United States, pledging to freeze and eventually dismantle its suspected plutonium-based nuclear weapons program in return for construction of two modern, light-water reactors and 500,000 tons of fuel oil a year until the reactors are completed.
The latest crisis is over North Korea's confession to visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly on Oct. 3-5 that it has been secretly pushing a program to make nuclear weapons with enriched uranium.
In meetings with Kelly, North Korean officials said they consider the 1994 agreement invalid because the reactors were several years behind schedule and were not expected to be completed by 2003 as promised.
Lawsuit against author dismissed
PARIS — A French court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against best-selling novelist Michel Houellebecq that accused him of inciting racial hatred by calling Islam a "stupid" religion in a magazine interview.
The court ruled that Houellebecq's comments, denounced in the lawsuit by four Muslim groups, displayed "ignorance" about Islam but did not include an intent to affront or show contempt toward Muslims.
The Associated Press
The 44-year-old author, who shot to international fame with the 1998 shock novel "Atomized," which was published in the United States as "The Elementary Particles," defiantly testified in court in September that he had no contempt for Muslims, but that he had "as much contempt as ever" for Islam.
Tuesday's decision was expected. The public prosecutor's office had already recommended dismissing the case. Still, some of the plaintiffs said they would appeal.
"We are totally surprised by this decision, which seems to be inspired by a poor understanding of Islam," said Jean-Marc Varaut, a lawyer for an association representing the Mosque of Paris.
Houellebecq's lawyer, Emmanuel Pierrat, said the author would be happy if there were an appeal.
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