/ 11 March 2003

Mbeki works the ‘phone over Iraq

South African President Thabo Mbeki spoke to his French and British counterparts about Iraq on Monday night, presidential representative Bheki Khumalo said in Pretoria.

”Their discussions revolved around the need for Iraq to give an unequivocal demonstration of its willingness to disarm,” Khumalo said on Tuesday.

He said Mbeki called French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair after speaking to United States President George Bush. Bush, who has been phoning world leaders to muster support for his position on Iraq, called Mbeki in the evening.

”The two leaders agreed Iraq must get rid of its weapons of mass destruction, and should give an unequivocal demonstration that it was willing to do so,” Khumalo said.

”President Mbeki, in turn, then called the leaders of France and Britain.”

Khumalo would not elaborate on the nature of the conversations. France, Germany, Russia and China oppose a United Nations draft resolution that would give Iraq until March 17 to disarm or face military action.

The proposal was submitted by the US, Britain and Spain. A vote on the matter in the UN Security Council, scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed amid veto threats from France and Russia.

French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin meanwhile completed his whirlwind tour of the three African states on the UN Security Council to get their vote against a war in Iraq. Representative for the French embassy in South Africa, Jean-Marie

Lisbon, said Angola, Cameroon and Guinea would announce their positions in due course.

”Minister Villepin stated that the French position has been well understood by the three countries he visited,” Lisbon said.

The US, Britain and Spain need nine of the 15 votes on the security council for their resolution to be accepted. In addition, none of the permanent members of the council, one of which is France, must veto the resolution. – Sapa