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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Permanent UN Security Council Members Meet on Iraq

The five permanent UN Security Council members met in the UN Headquarters Monday on a revised US draft resolution that seeks tougher weapons inspections in Iraq.


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The five permanent UN Security Council members met in the UN Headquarters Monday on a revised US draft resolution that seeks tougher weapons inspections in Iraq.

According to diplomats close to the meeting, the five veto power holding council members, the United States, France, Russia, Britain and China, met in a closed meeting after the US backed down from its previous demands for automatic use of force against Baghdad.

The latest US compromise would give UN inspectors a chance to test Baghdad's cooperation on the ground, and it would come back to the council for further consultations on a possible second resolution authorizing force.

By giving more weight to the report of the UN inspectors, now waiting outside Iraq for new instructions from the council, the revised US draft would drop tough wording on claiming the right todetermine by itself when to launch a military strike.

The chief UN inspector, Hans Blix, would also be given the rights to "choose the most qualified experts" in building his team,apparently a substitute for the previous US demand for sending independent inspectors by the permanent council members, accordingto excerpts obtained by Xinhua.

The original US draft, which had been prepared for nearly one month and never made public, also demanded sending military escortto the UN inspectors and authorized them to interview any Iraqi civilian wherever they like. "The US seems unlikely to back down from these demands," the diplomat told Xinhua after the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity.


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