EU warns Iraq about inspections

12.00pm

BRUSSELS - EU leaders have warned Iraq that UN arms inspections could not go on indefinitely if it failed to provide full cooperation and said war could be used, albeit as a last resort.

But behind the tough words at its emergency summit on Iraq on Monday (Brussels Time), the 15-nation European Union showed no sign of agreement on the key issue of how long to give President Saddam Hussein to come clean on any weapons of mass destruction before using force.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, long opposed to what he views as US President George W. Bush's rush towards war, said the EU had adopted a compromise that omitted, at his insistence, a warning that "time is rapidly running out" for Iraq.

Bush's preparations for possible war against Iraq took another hit when Turkey announced it would not ask its parliament on Tuesday to open military bases to US forces as it had previously said it would.

"We have some concerns on economic issues, political issues and military issues...the Turkish government should be satisfied on those," Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, whose country is normally a close US ally, told reporters at the EU summit. Turkey is widely seen as a key launchpad for any attack on Iraq.

And there was some evidence of Iraqi cooperation with UN weapons inspectors as Baghdad reported the first surveillance flight by a U-2 spyplane over its territory since it agreed last week to allow such overflights.

A joint statement at the end of the EU summit attempted to smooth over bitter divisions on Iraq, but Britain, Washington's main ally, and France, which favours more time for UN inspections, laid bare conflicting positions from the start.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, the summit chairman. said the EU leaders agreed UN weapons inspectors should have more time in Iraq if needed.

"(The inspectors) should be given the time and resources which the UN Security Council believes they need," the 15 leaders said in a joint statement.

The statement set no time limit on the inspection process but said it could not continue indefinitely in the absence of full Iraqi cooperation.

"Baghdad should have no illusions: it must disarm and cooperate immediately. It has a final opportunity to solve the crisis peacefully," the statement said.

Simitis said the EU leaders had resolved to work closely with the United States and the US-led military build-up in the Gulf region was essential to achieve Iraqi cooperation.

Britain, supported by Spain, Italy, Denmark and Portugal, had challenged the EU to send out a tough message to Saddam and said the time to disarm peacefully could not be open-ended.

"I think that most people understand that if that cannot be done peacefully it has to be done by force," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on arrival.

But France, backed to varying degrees in European ranks by Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Luxembourg and Greece in opposing any rush to war, said only the UN inspectors could determine when the process should end.

President Jacques Chirac said France, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, would oppose a second UN resolution at this stage to authorise force against Iraq.

"We consider that war is always, always, the worst solution," Chirac told reporters.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who attended the EU summit, urged Western states to avoid turning on each other over Iraq and said transatlantic tensions could impair a solution.

A mainly positive report on Iraq by UN weapons inspectors last Friday, weekend anti-war protests by millions of Europeans, and a communique by Arab foreign ministers opposing military action bolstered the case of those opposed to any rush to war.

They want to keep efforts to disarm Iraq at the UN Security Council, and are resisting US President George W. Bush's determination to wage war with a "coalition of the willing" if the United Nations fails to act.

Amid a huge US and British build-up towards some 250,000 troops in the Gulf by early March for possible war against Iraq, the two EU camps have been bitterly divided for a month, trading barbs and issuing rival statements and open letters.

Washington has hinted it will give diplomacy more time -- but not much more.

Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said on Sunday Washington was willing to pursue a new UN resolution and "see where we come out" but added that such a resolution should not be "a delaying tactic".

The EU summit was widely seen as a fresh test for US-European relations, fraught by tensions over Iraq at the United Nations and in NATO.

France, Germany and Belgium defused some tension on the eve of the meeting by lifting a month-long blockade of limited NATO measures to prepare to protect Turkey in case of war on Iraq.

In Baghdad, Saddam was quoted by Iraqi state television as welcoming the mass anti-war demonstrations across the world.

"The humane positions that manifested themselves in the recent global demonstrations deserve from you all the appreciation and love," said Saddam, who denies possessing any weapons of mass destruction.

Global financial markets viewed the weekend rallies against an Iraq war as dimming the prospects of an imminent attack.

Stocks and the dollar rose as investors pulled back from traditional safe havens such as bonds and gold.

The UN Security Council sent inspectors back to Iraq in November, after a four-year absence, to hunt for any chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Some countries have taken precautionary measures in case of war. Kuwait, invaded by Iraq in 1990, shut two small oilfields near the border. Spain withdrew diplomats from Baghdad.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq