Africa
Developing countries prevent Iraqi war

afrol News, 14 February - Even the closest US allies, such as Chile, Pakistan and Angola, in the UN Security Council expressed their unwillingness to start military actions against Iraq at this point. African, Latin-American and Asian countries were surprisingly in agreement with the French-Russian line and emphasise the need for more weapon inspections.

The USA were left much more isolated than expected after UN chief weapon inspector Hans Blix presented a widely positive report on increased Iraqi cooperation with the UN representatives. Only the UK and Spain gave an unlimited support to the US wishes of quick military action against the Iraqi regime, thwarting US-UK plans to push for a second resolution. Even Bulgaria finally withdrew its support for immediate military action.

There had previously been most speculations about how the three non-permanent African Security Council members were to vote on a US-UK resolution text. Against all assumptions, even Angola's Ismael Abraao Gaspar Martins, made it clear his country would not support such a resolution at the moment, saying the negative "consequences of a war far outweigh its benefits." The currently ongoing processes to disarm Iraq were "an investment in peace - should be given sufficient time," the Angolan added.

Cameroon, which previously had been in contact with Paris to reach an agreement, strongly opposed a war against Iraq. "The Iraqi change of attitude is determined by the pressure of the Security Council," the Cameroonian representative however reminded, adding there was a "need of more unity" in the Council. Cameroon believed in a peaceful solution, although "this depends of the goodwill of Iraq," he added.

Guinea, which had been the country best hiding its cards before the meeting, turned out to be a clear supporter of the anti-war alliance. After listening to Mr Blix, Madamdy Traoré of Guinea told the Council he advocated "continued inspections, although not indefinitely." The Guinean representative had noted "progress" i Iraq and criticised the Security Council's permanent members' failure to reach a common view. "A reasonable extra time" for the weapon inspectors "would help creating unity among the deferring views expressed around this table," concluded Mr Traoré.

The most surprising result of the meeting, after Mr Blix' progress report, however was the lack of support to the US from key allies Bulgaria and Chile. Bulgaria earlier had expressed its clear support for a US military campaign against Iraq, and the Chilean government is seen as very pro-American.

Even if Bulgaria and Chile both expressed much deception with the fact that the Iraqi regime "still has an ambivalent attitude towards the weapon inspectors," the two countries asked for more time to inspect. "The inspections must continue, said Chile's Foreign Minister María Soledad Alvear. The Bulgarian UN ambassador gave a surprise support to "the French ideas," which he hoped "would become an element in the overall strategy by the Council to achieve the disarmament of Iraq."

Syria, as it had announced earlier, did not support military actions against its neighbour country Iraq, and emphasised the disastrous consequences this could have for the region. Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara reminded the Council there could not be "double standards" for Iraq and Israel if it wanted to have credibility in the Middle East. Mr A-Shara also underlined the fact that Israel has weapons of mass destructions, does not allow UN inspections, occupies territory of neighbour countries and violates a number of central Security Council resolutions.

Neither Mexico nor Pakistan could support military actions at this stage, as it was expected. Mexico proved disappointed that Iraq "continues to evade its international responsibilities," said Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez, but then reconfirmed his confidence in the inspections. Pakistan was even clearer and demanded "the elimination of weapons of mass destruction through peaceful means."

The massive resistance against war from developing countries turned out to become an effective blockage of the foreseen US-UK draft resolution. With only Spain supporting the US-UK view in the discussion, the pro-war alliance had no chance of achieving nine votes in favour of a new resolution and had been effectively isolated. No draft resolution was therefore presented.

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