Bush expected to reject French stance on Iraq

US: Diplomatic manoeuvres over the future of Iraq continued at the United Nations yesterday in advance of today's opening of…

US: Diplomatic manoeuvres over the future of Iraq continued at the United Nations yesterday in advance of today's opening of the annual General Assembly debate, writes Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, in New York

President Bush was resisting an ambitious role for the world body in Iraqi reconstruction while France's President Chirac called for a "long-range political vision and a key role for the UN".

However, Mr Bush is expected to give little ground to critics of the US role in Iraq when he delivers a 22-minute speech to the General Assembly today. With a presidential election looming, he is not likely to acknowledge any mistakes.

Nor is he expected to accede to French demands for a rapid return of sovereignty to a native Iraqi administration. All the indications are that he will not be endorsing the idea of a timetable. The White House view is that a handover is unlikely for at least another year.

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Interviewed by Fox News, the President said the UN could help write a new Iraqi constitution: "They are good at that." The UN might also supervise elections in due course but no Security Council resolution would be allowed to "get in the way" of an orderly transfer of authority from the Coalition Provisional Authority to an elected Iraqi government.

But in an interview with the New York Times, President Chirac said: "Sovereignty must be transferred to the Iraqis. Today this means the existing government institutions. They are not very good, but they are there. That's the principle." However, he said, France would not block a resolution on Iraq at the UN Security Council: "We can either abstain or vote Yes. To vote Yes, we need a clear long-range political vision and a key role for the UN." This included "first, a precise deadline for the transfer of sovereignty, and second a timetable for transferring responsibilities".

The French President, who is also taking part in the General Assembly, discussed the Iraq situation with the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, over what was described as "a sumptuous working dinner" prepared by Alain Ducasse, a Frenchman recently named the leading chef in the US.

Mr Chirac presented the Secretary General with an engraving of the 1789 "Declaration of the Rights of the Man and the Citizen", one of the founding texts of the French Republic.

A spokeswoman for Mr Chirac said he told Mr Annan that "France will participate in discussions of the draft resolution in a constructive, open manner." A draft resolution on Iraq has been tabled at the Security Council by the US, seeking a UN mandate for a multinational force and financial aid for Iraq as well as international recognition of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council before proper democratic institutions are established.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, who is also at the UN this week, has announced that Ireland will host a two-day international ministerial conference in Dublin on HIV/AIDS on February 23rd and 24th next year.

Ireland holds the European presidency from January to June 2004. Mr Cowen told a General Assembly special session on HIV/AIDS that the issue would be a priority in the development agenda for the presidency.

The conference, which may be held in Dublin Castle, will bring together relevant government ministers from the European Union, Eastern Europe and Central Asia "to review co-operation against HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia".

"The objective of this major regional meeting will be to foster a new sense of pan-continental co-operation against HIV/AIDS. For the first time 53 ministers from across the continent will meet together to co-operate against this common threat," Mr Cowen said.

Highlighting Ireland's financial commitment to fighting the epidemic, the Minister said: "As we pursue the objective of achieving the UN target of 0.7 per cent by 2007, the volume of our Overseas Development Assistance committed to HIV/AIDS programmes has increased 10-fold to over €40 million in 2002."