France, Saudi Arabia stress objective of disarming Iraq, not regime change
In conclusion of the talks held by the Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal with high ranking French officials, France and Saudi Arabia yesterday stressed that the objective concerning Iraq remains to dismantle its weapons, rather than change its regime. They stressed the need of giving the UN inspectors enough time to complete their work.
Al-Faisal had met with the French President Chirac and with the French foreign minister before he will head today to London and may be later to the US or Russia, while fears have been increasing in France over the sudden eruption of war during the few coming weeks.
Al-Faisal expressed his conviction that "the French President is aware of all surrounding dangers in the region and the international peace" and that he had felt the same in his talks with French counterpart Dominique de Villepin with whom talks centered on the situation in Iraq, developments of the Iraqi crisis in light of the Israeli elections.
Al-Faisal said following a meeting with Chirac which lasted for 45 minutes at Elysee palace "we have discussed what should be made to avoid a large catastrophe and crisis in Iraq." He added "we all hope that there will be a possibility to reach a solution that averts the partition of Iraq and preserves its territorial unity." Al-Faial added that during his talks with the French officials, he had stressed that "the Iraqi crisis should not be an obstacle before the efforts on the Palestinian arena due to the conditions the Palestinians are currently facing and that the current consultation have an objective that concentrates on finding a means to finding out appropriate solutions to avert the region more problems and violence."
Asked about the initiative proposed recently by the Saudi crown prince Abdullah on the need of making a change in the Arab homeland, al-Faisal said "this initiative aims at making reforms and it is proposed by the Arab follow up committee, and if it will be approved.. it will debated during the Bahrain next Arab summit."
For his part, the French foreign minister said it is necessary to avail the opportunity before the UN inspectors to continue their work especially in what they still have what to achieve in the area of biological and chemical weapons.
He added "we do agree with our partners that the priority to deal with the Iraqi issue goes back to the Security Council and the ultimate aim is to dismantle the Iraqi weapons in collaboration with the UN inspectors."