France said today it would unveil proposals to resolve the Iraq crisis without going to war, as the US continued to lobby support for a new UN resolution.
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Diplomats had said the French proposal would include a new calendar for UN weapons inspections.
"France wants to give disarmament in Iraq through peaceful means every chance of succeeding, through inspections that should be pursued and reinforced," President Jacques Chirac's spokeswoman said.
The latest attempt by Paris to stave off military action came as the United States stepped up its diplomatic drive to secure support for a new UN resolution allowing the use of force to disarm President Saddam Hussein.
France, one of the most outspoken critics of Washington's hawkish stance on Iraq and a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, also repeated its opposition to a fresh resolution.
Moscow said Russian President Vladimir Putin, another leading opponent of US war plans, had sent former prime minister Yevgeny Primakov to meet Saddam in Baghdad at the weekend.
Britain insisted that there was still time to solve the crisis peacefully. "We all fervently hope that will be the case," Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said during a visit to Kuwait to inspect British troops.
Washington's drive for support on the British-US draft resolution, expected to be presented on Tuesday, found little support in Beijing, where US Secretary of State Colin Powell had been urging China not to block the new initiative.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said London wants the Security Council to decide on the resolution within about two weeks.
A tide of international leaders urged Iraq to bow to its UN commitments and for the United States to allow diplomacy to run its course, with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan insisting that war was not inevitable.
Weapons inspections were making headway and must be allowed to resolve the crisis, Mr Annan told the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Kuala Lumpur, in a speech presented by his special representative Mr Lakhdar Brahimi. Urging Saddam to disarm for the sake of world order, the head of the United Nations also warned Washington that any action not sanctioned by the world body would lack legitimacy.
Opposition to war was echoed by South African President Thabo Mbeki, who also warned against attacking Iraq without UN approval, while Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused the West of trying to "dominate the world".
The Greek presidency of the European Union said it was up to the UN to set the timetable for Iraq to disarm, after speaking with chief UN weapons inspector Mr Hans Blix at the weekend. EU leaders last week warned that weapons inspections could not continue indefinitely and admitted that force could be used as a last resort.
But one of the most crucial elements of a possible US invasion - the use of Turkish soil to launch an attack on neighbouring Iraq - hung in the balance, with Ankara still not agreeing to US demands to let in its troops.
Turkey's ambassador to the United States said the two countries were close to a deal. Ankara has demanded a package of guaranteed financial aid to offset the damage that conflict in Iraq would have on the Turkish economy.
AFP