United Nations, May 08: The United States will present a draft resolution to other UN Security Council members this week to lift sanctions against Iraq, US Secretary of State Powell has said. The resolution would be forward-looking and would "not fight the battles of the past," he said yesterday, alluding to the bitter divisions in the council before the US-led invasion of Iraq.
"It's forward-looking, a resolution that will unite the international community to help the people of Iraq to a better life and to build a new government," he said. "It will lift the sanctions to that end.
"We would expect to present it to all the council members this week," he said.
Powell had just spoken for 40 minutes with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. He said it was "an opportunity to describe the kind of resolution that we believe is appropriate."
UN officials said the meeting was the first between the two men since the start of the war in Iraq on March 20.

"I'm not going to go into the details of it, but you can be sure that it's a resolution that will not fight the battles of the past," Powell said.
Bureau Report