France-Africa summit: here's an alternative to war in Iraq

There is an alternative to a war in Iraq, stressed heads of state taking part to the 22nd summit of Africa and France, currently convening in the French capital.

In a statement on Iraq, made public on Thursday, they voiced support to the pursuit of the United Nations' mission, along with that of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Iraq.

They reaffirmed, in this respect, that disarming Iraq remains the common objective of the international community, stressing that the United Nations Organization is the only legitimate framework suitable to find a breakthrough to this issue.

The heads of state called on the Iraqi authorities to cooperate immediately, actively and without reserve with the UN inspectors and the IAEA, proposing a substantial increase, in terms of human and technical capacities of the inspections, within the framework of UN resolution 1441.

While reiterating their confidence in the chief inspectors, Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei, they pointed out to the fact that war should be contemplated as a last resort, due to the high destabilization risks it entails for the region, Africa and the whole world.