Front Page   

Russia, Germany, France flay U.S.

DUBAI MARCH 20. Most countries including Russia, China and Germany today denounced the US-led attack on Iraq while a handful of America's allies supported the action saying it was "inevitable" to eradicate weapons of mass destruction.

Deploring the U.S. action, Russia said, "with a military campaign that has started, all one can do is again express extreme regret and hope that the number of people killed and injured as a result of hostilities would be minimal".

An unnamed Government source, quoted by the Interfax news agency, said ``it was regrettable that diplomatic efforts by Russia, France and Germany failed to avert a military crackdown."

China accused the U.S. of "violating the norms of international behaviour.''

Demanding that everything must be done to avoid humanitarian catastrophe among the Iraqi people, Germany said the U.N. and the Security Council must play a central role in re-establishing peace in Iraq. "The goal is to maintain Iraq's territorial integrity and put the Iraqi people in a position to form a united Iraq, relieved of its weapons of mass destruction, as a recognised and prosperous member of the international community," a government statement issued in Berlin said. Noting with ``deep concern'', France said it hoped that the war in Iraq would end soon.

Belgium denounced the US attack on Iraq as the ``flouting of international law''. "We continue to think that abandoning international law is a price too high to pay for the disarmament, however desirable, of the regime in place in Baghdad," Belgium's Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, said at a press conference in Brussels.

Political parties in Indonesia reacted angrily to the attack and protests were witnessed in front of the U.S. embassy in Jakarta.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• U.S. launches attacks on Iraq
• Russia, Germany, France flay U.S.
• Unjustified, says India
• Voices against the war...
• India enters World Cup final
• Bhujbal apologises
• IA hikes fares
• Dies in freak accident
• Malaysia says sorry

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu