The United States would be undermining international law and global stability if it attacks Iraq without UN approval, Secretary General Kofi Annan will say in a speech to the General Assembly on Thursday.
In the speech, published by his representative?s office 11 hours before he was to deliver it, Annan acknowledged that the UN Charter gave every country the right to self-defence if attacked.
However when states ”decide to use force to deal with broader threats to international peace and security, there is no substitute for the unique legitimacy provided by the United Nations,” the text of Annan’s speech reads.
Annan was due to address the Assembly at 10:00 am (1400 GMT), immediately before the start of its nine-day debate of world leaders.
”For any one state, large or small, choosing to follow or reject the multilateral path must not be a simple matter of political convenience,” Annan warns in the speech.
US President George Bush was the second scheduled speaker in the debate, and was expected to lay out the case for military action against Iraq, arguing that it was trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction in defiance of the UN Security Council.
In the speech Annan mentions neither the United States nor Bush’s assertion that Washington has the right to launch a preemptive strike at regimes it believes pose an imminent threat — but the thrust of his remarks was unmistakable.
A senior UN official said the speech was ”a very strong restatement of the multilateral faith on which the United Nations is based,” and described it as one of the most important Annan has ever made.
He said Annan had sent the text of his remarks to the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte,
”as a courtesy” on Wednesday.
Asked whether it amounted to a warning to Washington, the senior official replied: ”If it’s a warning, it’s an extremely friendly warning,” and added that Annan ”desperately hopes that the Iraqi issue can be resolved peacefully.”
In his speech, Annan said Iraq’s refusal to comply with UN demands that it disarm was one of ”four threats to world peace, where true leadership and effective action are badly needed.”
The other threats were the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the continuing instability in Afghanistan, and tensions between India and Pakistan, he said.
The leadership required to face these threats flowed from a readiness to work with other countries, notably through the UN Security Council, Annan said.
”The more a country makes use of multilateral institutions …the more others will trust and respect it, and the stronger its chance to exercise true leadership,” he said.
The liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation by a US-led coalition in 1991 showed that UN member states were ”willing to take actions under the authority of the Security Council which they would not be willing to take without it,” he added.
Annan urged Iraq to comply with council resolutions, ”for the sake of its own people and for the sake of world order.”
He appealed to any country that had influence with Iraqi leaders ”to impress on them the vital importance of accepting the weapons inspections.”
If Iraq’s defiance continued, ”the Security Council must face its responsibilities,” he said.
In his speech, Annan also called on the council to put aside its traditional reluctance to act in a crisis unless the states confronting each other asked it to do so.
It is that caution — plus pressure from one or more of its permanent members — which has often prevented the council from discussing, let alone acting on, the conflicts in the Middle East and between India and Pakistan.
”The existence of an effective international security system depends on the council’s authority, and therefore on the council having the political will to act, even in the most difficult cases,” Annan said.
Noting that India and Pakistan both had nuclear weapons, Annan welcomed the efforts of certain, unnamed, states to mediate, but said: ”If a fresh crisis erupts, the international community might have a role to play.” – Sapa-AFP