Security Council vote gives Iraqi peace a chance

Supporters and opponents of the war against Iraq joined forces in the UN last night to help launch the country’s interim government.

The Security Council unanimously adopted a much amended Anglo-American resolution backing the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty and giving the new leaders clout over the US-led multinational force .

But whether the new government succeeds after the June 30 hand-over will depend on its own efforts to rally support and govern effectively – and on the international response to the resolution’s call for troops and aid to help the country move down the path toward democracy.

So far, there’s been no rush to provide financial or military help and Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Alexander Konuzin said: “I don’t think there are very many volunteers. There are enough forces – 150,000. That’s enough.”

The Security Council’s 15-0 vote last night to back the resolution followed two weeks of intense negotiations.

An eleventh-hour US compromise accepted a French and German demand for the resolution to state clearly that the Iraqi government will control all Iraqi force and have veto power over their participation in military operations by the multinational force.

France and Germany, key opponents of the war, also wanted the interim government to have veto power over major military operations by the US-led force, like the siege of Fallujah.

But Iraq’s new leaders did not demand such power, so Paris and Berlin agreed to the US-Iraqi deal requiring the force and the new government to agree on ”policy on sensitive offensive operations.”

France’s UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said after the vote that “France cannot imagine that the multinational force would go against the opinion of Iraq’s sovereign government”.

France and other council nations praised US flexibility in trying to reach agreement on the resolution – the fifth version of the US-British draft since May 24, and there was also praise for the significant changes that Washington and London made over the last two weeks.

The final draft looks forward to the end of the Anglo-American occupation, spells out the powers and limitations of the interim government, and declares that the council will end the multinational force’s mandate at the Iraqi government’s request or by early 2006 when a constitutionally-elected government takes power.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the vote showed the council’s willingness to come together after last year’s divisions over the war to help the Iraqi people “take charge of their own political destiny”.

“Obviously, we are not there yet. Free and fair elections … will be an historic milestone on Iraq’s road to stability and peace,” he said, but security must improve for voting to take place by January 2005.

President George Bush said the measure will set the stage for democracy in Iraq and be a “catalyst for change” in the Middle East.

“The world community has spoken with one voice and given its support to the new Iraqi government,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair said at the Group of Eight summit in Sea Island, Georgia. “The people of Iraq now know that the world community is united in helping them take charge of their future.”

Algeria’s UN Ambassador Abdallah Baali, the only Arab Security Council member, warned that the future for the Iraqi people remained “loaded” with dangers and uncertainties and the resolution couldn’t resolve all of them.

It’s up to the governments that will lead the country to make the political transition work and ensure that the Iraqi peoples’ dream of a free and democratic country becomes a reality, he said.