Russia: Strong words to the US over Iraq
In an unusually strongly-worded comments directed at the US with regard to its handling of the UN-US-Iraqi crisis, Russian President Yeltsin said, "His [Clinton's] actions could run into a world war, he is behaving too loudly."
This comes on the heels of intensive efforts by Russian envoy Viktor Posovaluk in Iraq to find a solution to the crisis.
Russia during the last UN-US-Iraqi confrontation was the strongest voice that supported diplomacy by asserting its role on the UN Security Council and prevented what was at the time, a similar situation to the ongoing crisis, with the US seemingly on an irreversable course towards military confrontation with Iraq.
The Russian position stems from its repeated emphasis that diplomacy must be used, and that the role of the Security Council not be marginalized and made irrelevant by the US objectives to the detriment of other members.
French also sent an envoy to Iraq, Bertrand Dufourcq, and has remarked that negotiations are ongoing and that the issues are very tough to resolve, but efforts must continue.
CNN reported that a proposal was made by Iraq, the outline of which is composed of unfettered access to UNSCOM and a team of experts from Security Council member countries to eight "presidential" sites, with the restriction that the teams would report to Security Council directly, not to UNSCOM chief Richard Butler. Also, once the sites have been inspected for one month, the sites would not be available for further inspections.
The US issued the position that full access must be given without restrictions, alongside a warning yesterday by Secretary of Defense Cohen that military strikes will be severe and on a scale that has not been seen since the Gulf War.
Along with the French and Russian efforts, a new effort is underway by Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel Meguid, who is carrying a message from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, asking for Iraqi compliance with UN resolutions in order to avoid "suffering for Iraq and its people."
US Secretary of State Albright has just concluded a regional trip to win Arab support for the US position. With the exception of Kuwait, all the Arab states indicated the strong need for diplomacy to provide a way out of this crisis, while insisting on Iraqi observance of relevant UN resolutions dealing with weapons inspections.
Egyptian Foreign Mininster Amr Moussa said that following "Security Council resolutions and diplomatic efforts will really have us avoid the grave consequences that all of us want to avoid." In comments addressing both the Iraqi and US positions, Moussa said, "it is very important that there would be full compliance with Security Council resolutions and, of course, to guarantee full
cooperation between UNSCOM and Iraq. At the same time, diplomatic efforts should continue."
Iraq is being bombarded by envoys, and the option of compliance is not in question, as they all insist on it. What is in question is whether Iraq will put on a Russian, European, or Arabian face if and when they accept one of these offers.