STATEMENT BY THE MINISTRY OF
FOREIGN AFFAIRS SPOKESPERSON

FRENCH MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

July 18, 2003

Q - France has said it's ready to send a force under UN mandate. Does that mean the withdrawal of American occupying forces or a collaboration? Are you making the withdrawal of 150,000 US soldiers a condition of sending in a French force?

That's a very good question but for the time being it's hypothetical because at the time I'm speaking there are no debates or discussions going on at the UN on a mandate for any force.

Q - The UN secretary-general says that to take part in Iraq's reconstruction, to make Iraq safe, everyone has to participate. Is that the beginning of a debate?

It's what we've been saying ourselves for several months: for peace-building you need the international community to tackle such a task, by means of the key instrument--the United Nations.

Q - So France has no intention of proposing a Security Council resolution on this?

So far as I know, we've no such intention at this time.

Q - Can you tell us about the consultations for drafting a new resolution in the Security Council?

I can only speak for France obviously, not for the others. There are normal, regular consultations between experts in our capitals just as there are all the time. Iraq is clearly one of the issues that comes up and often discussed.

Q - And at the Security Council level?

As I said yesterday, to my knowledge, there are no discussions at that level on this matter. On the other hand, there is a Security Council session planned for Tuesday at which several things will be happening--namely a report that the secretary-general's special representative for Iraq, Mr. Vieira De Mello, will make on the first few weeks of his mission in Iraq; also three members of Iraq's new interim Governing Council will be heard by the Council. I believe it's a public session. These are consultations that will allow members to review certain aspects of this question and the UN role in this matter so far.

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