UN resumes negotiations on Iraq draft

France, Russia and China all veto-wielding council members want the resolution to give Iraq a chance to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors. If Baghdad fails to comply, they want the Security Council to meet and only then consider military action in a second document.

But the US and Britain, the other two veto-wielding members, are

demanding a single resolution. US Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed that it must include "the threat of force and the threat of consequences ... or we know that Iraq will not respond".

In Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said the new US draft resolution would turn his country into an occupied territory.

"It calls for dealing with Iraq as an occupied territory, as a country with no government, with no sovereignty," Naji Sabri said.

Sabri said the US draft "tries to deal with Iraqi people as a people under the mandate of a colonial power. It is, in a few words, a declaration to colonise. Iraq in the name of the United Nations. It is a return to the 19th century, or the beginning of the 20th century."

In 1920, what is now Iraq was placed under British control by the League of Nations. The country became an independent state in 1932, and was proclaimed a republic in 1958.

The Security Council started consultations yesterday with a briefing from chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is in charge of nuclear inspections. Washington says it wants a vote this week on its tough resolution.

Blix and ElBaradei were asked during the meetings about new rules to strengthen inspections in the US draft. France's UN Ambassador Jean-David Levitte has said their assessment will be "very important." In an interview in Le Figaro yesterday, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin proposed a meeting of fellow foreign ministers at the Security Council to smooth out differences on disarming Iraq.

"Our objective is now twofold: reaching a conclusion quickly, and doing so on the basis of as large a consensus as possible in the Security Council," de Villepin said.

While the inspection rules are a key element of the resolution, the issue of authorising military force is critical.

In a surprise move on Friday, Russia and France introduced their own proposals to challenge the US draft resolution. Both eliminated two US references to Iraq being in "material breach" of its obligations, which they view as a hidden trigger for military action.

Russia, Iraq's closest council ally, wants to stick to current inspection rules. Its draft also eliminates a US reference to the council repeatedly warning Iraq will face "serious consequences" if it keeps violating its obligations to dismantle its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

France, which sees itself as potential broker between Washington and Moscow, wants to water down US inspection proposals. Its proposal would recall the council's warning of "serious consequences", only if the council convened to see an inspectors report that Iraq did not comply with rules.