THE VATICAN: The UN Secretary General, in Rome yesterday for meetings with Pope John Paul II and the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, has repeated his belief that "war is not inevitable" while calling on the international community to make every effort to ensure "a peaceful solution" to the Iraqi crisis, writes Paddy Agnew.
After a two-hour meeting with Mr Berlusconi, just a day after he had attended a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels, Mr Kofi Annan, said there was still hope for a peaceful solution.
"War is not inevitable and we must push for a peaceful solution.even if this does not mean that Iraq does not have to comply with those obligations imposed on it by the Security Council".
Mr Annan said UN Security Council resolution 1441 did "not set time limits". When asked just how much more time should be afforded to the UN weapons inspectors, he declined to be specific, saying such a question was a matter for the Security Council alone.
Taking up where he had left off in Brussels on Monday, Mr Annan also underlined the need for Europe to play a key role in the Iraqi crisis, both to secure peace and in the event of the outbreak of war. "Europe has to play a key role in this crisis, both politically and, in the case of war, from the humanitarian viewpoint."
He shared Mr Berlusconi's view that "there is still hope that we can find a peaceful solution".
Mr Annan also held talks yesterday evening with the Pope which underscored the UN's "essential role" in the quest for a peaceful solution. "Underlining the essential role of the United Nations, it was hoped that just and efficient solutions could still be found," according to a Vatican statement released after the 30-minute meeting.
"Those solutions must also avoid further grave suffering inflicted on a population already tested by long years of embargoes."
There has been a sustained Vatican diplomatic offensive aimed at avoiding war. The Pope has regularly spoken out against US-led military intervention in Iraq, calling war a "defeat for mankind". Last Friday he met the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tariq Aziz, in the Vatican.
The Pope also sent a message last week to the Iraqi leader, President Saddam Hussein, via his personal envoy, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray.
In Baghdad on Monday, Cardinal Etchegaray argued that "peace is still possible".
He added: "A small clearing seems to be opening between the great black clouds that hang over us at this time.
"\ manifested to me a long and profound hearing of the living word that comes from God and that every believer, descendent of Abraham, accepts as the surest ferment of peace. Yes, peace is still possible."
Pope John Paul will receive Mr Blair in a private audience on Saturday, the Vatican has said.