U.N. May Change U.S. Proposal on Iraq

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

(8:33 PM ET)

By Edith M. Lederer

Associated Press Writer

Bush's main aim in seeking a new resolution is to get more countries to contribute troops and money to stabilize and rebuild Iraq. The resolution would authorize a multinational force led by the United States.

A U.S Army soldier gives directions as he secures the area around the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad, after a car bomb exploded at the gates of the embassy, killing two people including the driver and injuring three, Tuesday Oct 14, 2003.

Image Credit: Anja Niedringhaus -- AP

UNITED NATIONS -- AP
France, Russia and Germany urged the United States on Tuesday to add a timetable for the transfer of power to Iraqis to its new U.N. resolution, but Washington called for a quick vote and a U.S. official cautioned against major changes.

In an apparent effort to reach a compromise on the draft Washington circulated Monday, the three countries dropped their demand for a handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi provisional government within months.

Instead, their proposed amendments to the U.S. draft would give Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council a role in establishing the timetable, along with the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council.

The three countries submitted the amendments at the first council meeting to discuss the revised resolution following a meeting among French President Jacques Chirac, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, diplomats said.

France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere called the package of amendments ``the minimum'' that the three countries will accept ``in a spirit of compromise.''

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said Moscow's position on the resolution will depend on ``the readiness of the authors of the draft resolution to take into account these ideas of ours,'' the Interfax news agency reported.

The five permanent council nations - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and French - met with the German and Spanish ambassadors Tuesday evening to discuss the amendments, council diplomats said.

The full 15-member council was scheduled to hold closed-door consultations later that evening.
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Dan