Russia, France and others want the US to make sure Iraqis have a major say in their future before endorsing any UN resolution on the official end of the occupation, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Both countries are engaged in talks among the 15 UN Security Council members, organized by the US and ally Britain, to discuss concepts for a resolution that would endorse an interim Iraqi government to take office on June 30.
No text was circulated on Wednesday at the second informal meeting, in order not to interfere with complex talks currently conducted in Baghdad by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on the form of a caretaker government. It is to be in office until elections planned for January, 2005.
But so far there is little rancor reminiscent of the split over endorsing the US-led invasion of Iraq last year, which France, Russia, Germany, China and others opposed.
Vyacheslav Trubnikov, Russia's first deputy foreign minister, told the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper Moscow would be prepared to vote for the resolution if it meets Iraqi interests "100 percent."
France, on the other hand, fears a resolution would not bypass who would control what, with the US-led coalition still holding onto military and police power. Its officials have told council members the measure is among the most important ever adopted on Iraq.
It is "extremely important" the Security Council's resolution defines "the framework for the transfer and the political reconstruction of Iraq," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said in Brussels on Monday.
"We are trying to persuade the Americans to agree to a real transfer of sovereignty," he said, adding that a new Iraqi government "must have its say on security matters."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell in New York last week, proposed two resolutions, diplomats said.
The first would be adopted to support whatever caretaker government Brahimi might devise. The second one could be passed before or after the June 30 handover but with input from the new government.
Few council members have signed up to this concept but China backed it at Wednesday's meeting, envoys said.
Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram, this month's council president, however, said his country was "pragmatic on exactly how it is done as long as the transfer is made, it is legal and it is acceptable to the Iraqi people."
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS