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France to veto resolution

By Vaiju Naravane

`UN'WAVERING STAND: Jacques Chirac

Paris March 11. France will vote against the United Nations Security Council resolution on Iraq proposed by Britain, Spain and America. The French President, Jacques Chirac, made the announcement on Monday in a live televised interview. This was the first time the French leader has directly addressed his countrymen since the beginning of the Iraq crisis.

``Whatever the circumstances France will vote no, because there is no need for war to disarm Iraq,'' Mr. Chirac said. He again called for further inspections adding that in his estimation, a draft resolution giving Iraq an ultimatum would fail to garner the qualified majority of nine votes. However, even if nine non-permanent Security Council members were in favour of such a resolution, France would vote "no'', Mr. Chirac said.

The Spanish Foreign Minister, Ana Palacio, who was to have met her French counterpart, Dominique de Villepin, in Paris on Tuesday cancelled her visit. Mr de Villepin has just returned from a two-day trip to Angola, Cameroon and Guinea, three vacillating non-permanent members of the Security Council, in an attempt to lobby their support for the no-war camp.

On television, Mr. Chirac was calm and deliberate, attempting to explain France's anti-war stance. "I am convinced, at this point in time, that this resolution containing an ultimatum that gives the green light to war does not have the support of nine members of the Security Council,'' Mr Chirac said. He said Paris would not participate in any military action against Iraq but added that France would be present at the reconstruction stage which he felt should be carried out under the auspices of the U.N. However, he appeared to step back from his earlier suggestion that heads of state and Government should be present at the Security Council vote.

The United States President, George W. Bush, had rejected Mr. Chirac's call for such a meeting. "Of course, I will not go alone,'' Mr. Chirac remarked.

He was careful not to antagonise the U.S. in any way, insisting that America and France were friends and allies. He brushed aside suggestions that Washington could impose sanctions on France and boycott French exports, saying, "We live in a globalised world.''

Mr. Chirac said such counter-measures were no longer possible because trade practices fell under the purview of the World Trade Organisation and because France was part of the European Union.

The French press has been overwhelming in its praise of Mr. Chirac. Polls indicate that 69 per cent of the population is in favour of France using its veto.

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