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U.S. 'losing patience' with U.N.

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington Oct. 23. The United States' draft Resolution on Iraq is running into trouble at the United Nations; and the Bush administration is hinting that it is losing patience with the world body. "The United Nations does not have forever.'' said the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer. And at an election event in Bangor, Maine, the U.S. President, George W Bush, again made the point that if the United Nations did not act and disarm Iraq, the U.S. — along with a coalition — would act.

"..if they (United Nations) won't act, and if Saddam Hussein won't act, for the sake of peace, for the sake of our security, we will lead a coalition to disarm that man'', Mr. Bush said while stumping for Republican candidates for the November 5 elections.

But for the most part the action was in New York and the capitals of the Permanent Members of the Security Council. And the key focus was on Russia and France, and on China, to an extent. The Chinese have not come out swinging against the new American draft but have expressed deep disappointment that this draft is not substantively any different from the earlier one.

Russia is said to have come out even more stronger than France in its opposition to the new proposals that have been formally presented by the U.S. to the other four Permanent Members of the Security Council. The 10 other elected members of the Council are expected to formally receive their copies by the end of the week. The Ambassadors of the Permanent Five have already two formal negotiation sessions going through the seven-page draft very carefully.

Russia, France and China favour two resolutions on Iraq, the second pertaining to the use of force coming only after Mr. Hussein and Iraq have obstructed the mission of the weapons inspectors.

Under the provisions of the new draft resolution, Iraq will have upto seven days to accept the U.N. resolution; a 30-day time-frame to declare its programmes of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons; and inspectors having another 45 days to resume inspections.

For a resolution to be adopted, nine out of the 15 members of the Security Council must vote in favour and there can be no veto. There are two major objections to the U.S. draft plan — references to Iraq being in "material breach'' of existing U.N. resolutions; and warning Baghdad of "serious consequences'' for continued violations of obligations.

Quite apart from the apprehensions of the world body, senior officials of the Bush administration have consistently been making the point that no fresh authorisation is required from the United Nations for any action against Iraq, and for two reasons. First there are existing authorisations on the use of force through U.N. resolutions after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; secondly, and more importantly, the President has the authorisation of the United States Congress.

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