UN: The Security Council is expected to approve today a US bid to lift UN sanctions on Iraq after Washington offered fresh concessions to reassure countries seeking a greater UN voice in Iraqi reconstruction, diplomats have said.
The council scheduled a vote on the draft resolution at 2.30 p.m. Irish time today and diplomats said Washington and co-sponsors Britain and Spain hoped for the support of as many as 14 and perhaps all 15 council members. The latest draft marked the third set of revisions since the initial version of a text was released last week.
France, Germany and Russia last night decided to back the latest draft of a US-proposed resolution lifting UN sanctions on Iraq, French Foreign Minister Mr Dominique de Villepin said.
"Even if this text does not go as far as we would like we have decided to vote for this resolution," Mr Villepin said at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Mr Joschka Fischer and Russian counterpart Mr Igor Ivanov.
The resolution would end nearly 13 years of UN sanctions, imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of oil-rich Kuwait, and also phase out strict UN controls on the Iraqi economy.
It would give the occupiers US and Britain broad powers to run the shattered nation and sell its oil to fund reconstruction until a new government is set up.
Meanwhile, the head of the US-led administration in Iraq, Mr Paul Bremer, yesterday put off until July a planned meeting of Iraqi politicians to chart the country's political future.
He insisted he remained in contact with Iraqi politicians, who have voiced growing frustration with the ever-lengthening timescale for the US-led occupation to retain the reins of power. "We are continuing our active dialogue with Iraqi leaders. I am meeting with them every day," Mr Bremer said.
But he was dismissive of the seven-strong leadership council of former exiles established under his predecessor, Mr Jay Garner, which he met for the first time last week. "The group we saw on Friday is not representative of the Iraqi people. We are going to broaden our reach with the partners we are talking to," he said. "We want a government representative of the Iraqi people. That's the process we are in now. We are moving as quickly as we can."
In recent days coalition officials have distanced themselves from the original leadership council, saying they wanted to leave time for new parties and new leaders to emerge.
They have also played down the likely role of the interim administration to be chosen by the national conference, saying its function will be to draw up a new constitution, not to control the day-to-day running of Iraq.
The policy shift has brought an angry reaction from the former exiles, who accuse the coalition of creating a "sovereignty vacuum".