UN gets 'last chance' on Iraq

UN gets 'last chance' on Iraq

The US says Saddam Hussein has no intention of disarming

President George W Bush has confirmed that the US and its allies will present a new resolution on Iraq to the UN Security Council next week.

The resolution will set out in "clear and simple terms" that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is not complying with disarmament demands, Mr Bush said.

Reports say a draft version will be circulated among UN Security Council members as early as Monday.

The UK Government backed the move, but said the UK and US would seek to delay a vote on the new resolution until mid-March.

This is a chance for the Security Council to show its relevance

President Bush

But Mr Bush stressed the urgency of the resolution, saying he was not willing to wait two months for the UN Security Council to approve a new text - the time it took to approve Resolution 1441.

It would be the Security Council's "last chance" to show its resolve to disarm Iraq, he warned.

President Bush, speaking after he and visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar held a four-way telephone conversation with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said the Security Council was faced with a clear choice.

"Time is short. This is a chance for the Security Council to show its relevance, and I believe the Security Council will show its relevance because Saddam Hussein has not disarmed," he said.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell indicated he expected a vote shortly after 7 March, when chief inspector Hans Blix is due to give a report to the Security Council.

"It is time to take action, the evidence has been clear they [the Iraqis] are guilty," he said, speaking in Tokyo where he held talks as part of a regional tour.

WHO BACKS WAR?

Where the key nations stand on military conflict in Iraq

At-A-Glance

"We are reaching that point where serious consequences must flow," he said.

In London, a spokesman for Mr Blair said the UK Prime Minister would make a "final push for peace next week".

"The new resolution will not be put to a vote immediately," the spokesman said.

"Instead Saddam Hussein will be challenged finally and fully to do what is required of him - that is the full disarmament of weapons of mass destruction."

Missile deadline

The chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix has given Baghdad until 1 March to start destroying its al-Samoud II missiles, which the UN says violate the ranges set after the 1991 Gulf War.

That demand is being seen as a key test of whether Saddam Hussein will disarm to avoid war.

Click here for excerpts from Hans Blix's missile deadline to Iraq

There has been no formal response from Baghdad, but Iraq's Foreign Minister Naji Sabri insisted any disagreements could be resolved with the inspectors.

On Saturday, the man in charge of nuclear inspections, Mohamed ElBaradei, said Iraq was still not doing enough to convince the world it had no banned weapons.

"We have not finished our work and Iraq is not fully co-operating with us," he said, adding that private access to Iraqi scientists remained a problem.

On Saturday, UN disarmament experts tagged al-Samoud missile components and manufacturing equipment at several sites.

Mr Blix wants the liquid-fuel missiles, engines, warheads and component parts destroyed.

In other developments:

• Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warns a US-led attack on Iraq would be seen in the Islamic world as part of a war against Muslims.

• American officials say Western warplanes patrolling the air exclusion zones in Iraq have bombed six military communications sites in the south of the country. The officials said the strikes came after Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery had opened fire on the planes.

• Officials in Washington say a tentative agreement has been struck with Turkey to allow the deployment of US troops on Turkish soil. A vote on the matter in Turkey's parliament is not expected before Tuesday.

• Pope John Paul II urges Tony Blair to find a solution other than war to the crisis with Iraq, during a private audience at the Vatican.

• Former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov flies to Iraq on a "confidential mission" on behalf of President Vladimir Putin, Ekho Moskvy radio quotes Kremlin sources as saying.