Date:11/04/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/04/11/stories/2003041102971400.htm

International

France, Germany hail 'victory'

BERLIN APRIL 10. The German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, today hailed the approach of a "welcome victory" by the U.S.-led forces in Iraq, but insisted that a central United Nations role in post-war rebuilding is essential to ensure the military victory brings "political profit" for Iraqis.

"There are welcome signs that the war in Iraq could be coming to an end," the staunchly anti-war Schroeder said. "That is, of course, our hope — everyday earlier that the war ends is a better day."

Meanwhile, while hailing the fall of the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, the French President, Jacques Chirac, said that full sovereignty should be returned to the nation as soon as possible and "with the legitimacy of the United Nations".

"It is now necessary to create the conditions which will give the Iraqi people its dignity in refound freedom," a statement President's office said.

The most urgent matter at hand is allowing humanitarian aid to get through by securing the country, it added.

— AP