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France, China, Russia urge cooperation from Iraq
Baghdad, Nov 24: World powers France, Russia and China urged Iraq to comply with UN weapons inspections ahead of the start on Wednesday of an 18-strong team`s make-or-break search for weapons of mass destruction.
Baghdad, Nov 24: World powers France, Russia and China urged Iraq to comply with UN weapons inspections ahead of the start on Wednesday of an 18-strong team's make-or-break search for weapons of mass destruction.
Western warplanes hammered targets in Southern Iraq while in Bucharest US President George W. Bush kept up the war of words by comparing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to Romanian Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
A UN aircraft carrying equipment for the inspectors flew into Baghdad, to be followed on Monday by the inspectors themselves who start their search for any weapons of mass destruction on Wednesday.
In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac said the UN inspections were essential to clear up any doubt over whether Saddam was still harbouring weapons of mass destruction.
He told a news conference war would be in no one's interest.
''I hope that everyone is aware that war is always the worst of solutions, and that it is in nobody's interest,'' he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, sitting beside Chirac, said a peaceful solution looked more likely than war in Iraq. ''I think we are much further down the road to peace than the road to war at the moment,'' he said.
Chirac's call was reinforced by the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers, who said after a meeting in Moscow that Iraq must fulfil its commitments to allow UN inspectors to search for any banned weapons.
Iraq insists it has no biological, chemical or nuclear arms. In Washington, the US military said western planes bombed a mobile radar system south of al Amarah, some 165 miles (265 km) southeast of Baghdad, yesterday.
Iraq had moved the radar into the southern no-fly zone imposed after the 1991 Gulf War, the US Central command said in a statement, adding the radar provided tracking and guidance for surface-to-air missile systems. It did not say whether Iraqi forces had fired at western aircraft patrolling the zone.
In Bucharest, Bush told tens of thousands of Romanians their misery under Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu showed that aggressive dictators like Saddam must be stopped.
Bureau Report
A UN aircraft carrying equipment for the inspectors flew into Baghdad, to be followed on Monday by the inspectors themselves who start their search for any weapons of mass destruction on Wednesday.
In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac said the UN inspections were essential to clear up any doubt over whether Saddam was still harbouring weapons of mass destruction.
He told a news conference war would be in no one's interest.
''I hope that everyone is aware that war is always the worst of solutions, and that it is in nobody's interest,'' he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, sitting beside Chirac, said a peaceful solution looked more likely than war in Iraq. ''I think we are much further down the road to peace than the road to war at the moment,'' he said.
Chirac's call was reinforced by the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers, who said after a meeting in Moscow that Iraq must fulfil its commitments to allow UN inspectors to search for any banned weapons.
Iraq insists it has no biological, chemical or nuclear arms. In Washington, the US military said western planes bombed a mobile radar system south of al Amarah, some 165 miles (265 km) southeast of Baghdad, yesterday.
Iraq had moved the radar into the southern no-fly zone imposed after the 1991 Gulf War, the US Central command said in a statement, adding the radar provided tracking and guidance for surface-to-air missile systems. It did not say whether Iraqi forces had fired at western aircraft patrolling the zone.
In Bucharest, Bush told tens of thousands of Romanians their misery under Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu showed that aggressive dictators like Saddam must be stopped.
Bureau Report