View from Germany Germany, France and Russia have called for the UN to lead the reconstruction of Iraq and for the country's "urgent humanitarian situation" to be addressed swiftly, writes Derek Scally Berlin
However, their three foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Paris yesterday that the US-led forces would be needed to establish security in Iraq after the end of the war.
"The first urgency is humanitarian," said Mr Dominique de Villepin, the French Foreign Minister. He said the key to successfully rebuilding post-war Iraq was to establish "international legitimacy", something only the UN could bring. "Nobody can hope to build peace alone," he said.
Mr de Villepin said the role of US and British soldiers should end after they have secured Iraq.
"In the armed phase, in the securing phase, the primary responsibility obviously is that of the coalition forces on the ground," said Mr de Villepin. "Beyond that, the United Nations must play a central role in solving the Iraqi crisis."
He criticised reports that the US is agreeing contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq before the end of the war, saying: "The idea that Iraq can be a sort of Eldorado, a cake that states can carve up, seems to me contrary to good sense and the reality of a state which is being tested at this time."
His Russian counterpart, Mr Igor Ivanov, said it was premature to talk of schemes to rebuild Iraq, but that Russia considered the UN "the only organisation to play a central role".
Mr Joschka Fischer, the German Foreign Minister, agreed. "It is important to stress that questions like the fight against terrorism, the humanitarian situation or the territorial integrity of Iraq can only be the business of the UN," he said.