US, UK to seek new Iraq resolution
The United Kingdom and the United States are keen to support a new United Nations resolution on the reconstruction of Iraq, a senior British minister said on Saturday.
International Development Secretary, Baroness Valerie Amos told the Daily Telegraph that both countries were drawing up proposals for a new resolution.
“We are currently looking at the possibilities for another resolution and what that might mean, which issues it would cover,” she said.
“The Americans are doing exactly the same thing, drawing up proposals for a new resolution,” Amos added.
The minister said the United States, stung by the spiralling cost of policing Iraq in terms of both money and lives, has started to see the benefits of a new UN resolution.
The US-led occupation forces find themselves on hostile turf in Iraq and concerns have been growing about their ability to run the country.
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‘We are currently looking at the possibilities for another resolution and what that might mean, which issues it would cover’ —UK Minister Valerie Amos |
Amos said the British government wanted to make it easier for countries like India, Pakistan and Turkey to join a UN-backed multilateral peace keeping force.
“There are some countries which would like to contribute to the peacekeeping effort but could not do that if there weren’t another resolution,” the minister explained.
The Guardian newspaper meanwhile reported that Britain was contemplating using its chairmanship of the Security Council next month to introduce a resolution as a political basis for more other nations to join the occupation forces in Iraq.
Russia and France have called for a new UN resolution on post-war Iraq, saying such a move would help secure greater international support for efforts to rebuild the war-battered country.