UN Security Council to Hold New Public Session on Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 11, 2003

UN Security Council to Hold New Public Session on Iraq

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The United Nations Security Council agreed on Monday to hold an open session Tuesday to give non-council members an opportunity to express their views on the Iraq issue, the UN spokesman's office confirmed.

The meeting, the second in two months, will start at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Tuesday, the office said. But it did not say how long the event will last.

During the Feb. 18-19 open session for non-council members, delegates from more than 60 countries aired their views on Iraq, with a vast majority of them speaking against a rush to war with Iraq.

Observers here believe Tuesday's session could see a similar scenario, which might make the US-led pro-war camp more difficult to gain support for its new draft resolution giving Iraq until March 17 to disarm or face war.

The draft, co-sponsored by Britain and Spain, has so far only been backed by elected council member Bulgaria but strongly opposed by Russia, China, Germany, France and Syria.

In a sign that the draft could be amended again, British Ambassador to the United Nations Jeremy Greenstock said late Tuesday that Britain was considering setting benchmarks for Iraqto comply by the March 17 deadline.

"We're examining whether a list of tasks could be a useful thing for the inspections," Greenstock told reporters after a closed-door council meeting on Iraq.

He said progress has been made in such examination in London but Britain has yet to discuss the list with the two co-sponsors before presenting them to the council.

Earlier press reports said that Britain was considering adding a separate protocol to the US-British-Spanish measure setting out specific tasks for Iraq to accomplish by March 17 as an objective measure of its cooperation.

Some council members have complained of lack of benchmarks to judge Iraq's compliance with its obligations to disarm.

US Ambassador to the UN John Negroponte told reporters earlier the draft resolution would not be brought to vote in the Security Council Tuesday as planned by the United States and Britain. He said a vote could take place sometime later this week.

Negroponte's remarks was the latest sign that the pro-war camp has so far failed to muster the necessary nine "yes" votes for the resolution.

To be adopted, the resolution needs the support of nine of the 15 Security Council members, with France, Russia and China all withholding their veto power, abstaining from a vote or voting in favor. The United States and Britain are the other two permanent members with veto power.

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