LISBON:The four European Union member states who sit on the United Nations Security Council need to adopt a common position on Iraq, former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing said yesterday.
"I hope that in the coming weeks there will be efforts and initiatives so that we can have a common EU position at the Security Council," he said after a meeting with Portuguese Prime Minister, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.
"If they had a common position, it would be a deciding factor," added Giscard d'Estaing, who now heads a group charged with drawing up an EU constitution.
British and French officials have ruled out military participation in action against Iraq without the approval of the Security Council, whose other permanent members are the US, China and Russia. - (AFP)
Germany still undecided on Iraq
BERLIN: The German government said yesterday it had still not decided how it might vote in the UN Security Council on a possible resolution authorising war on Iraq, despite a minister's comment it was set to vote against.
Germany began a two-year term on the 15-seat Council in January and will chair it in February.
Defence Minister Mr Peter Struck had said in a newspaper interview that a "yes" vote from Germany was no longer conceivable.
"The German government has not yet made any concrete decision on its position," spokesman Mr Thomas Steg said when asked about Struck's comments. He repeated the government view that Germany would not take part in a military intervention in Iraq. - (Reuters)
Strategy to defend Nordic countries
HELSINKI: Nordic countries are creating a common strategy to defend their 24 million people against a possible biological warfare attack, a leading Finnish scientist said yesterday.
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden intend to store millions of doses of smallpox vaccinations in case authorities need to inoculate their populations, said Finnish research Prof Pauli Leinikki.
"This is about agreeing on guidelines we should follow in case the situation changes and we need smallpox vaccinations," said Prof Leinikki, who works at Finland's National Public Health Institute in charge of surveillance and control of communicable diseases. - (Reuters)
Former Iraqi chief to stay in Denmark
COPENHAGEN: A Danish High Court upheld yesterday a ruling restricting the movement of former Iraqi army chief of staff Nizar al-Khazraji to prevent him avoiding possible prosecution for war crimes.
The ruling means Mr Khazraji, suspected of crimes against Kurds in the late 1980s, cannot leave Denmark, where he applied for political asylum in 1999.
The head of Iraq's armed forces from 1987 to 1990, Mr Khazraji fled to Jordan in 1995 and four years later applied for political asylum in Denmark. - (Reuters)
Czech troops to aid US if attacked
PRAGUE: The Czech Republic agreed yesterday to a United States request to deploy its anti-chemical warfare forces in the event of conflict with Iraq, though the troops' mandate depends in part on the stance of the United Nations.
Parliament approved a measure saying that in the case of an Iraqi attack using weapons of mass destruction, or an imminent threat of an attack, Czech troops could respond without a new UN resolution. - (Reuters)
Spy suspect arrested in Kuwait
KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait has arrested one of its own nationals suspected of spying for 1991 Gulf War enemy Iraq, an interior ministry statement said yesterday.
"The Kuwaiti citizen, Mohammed Hamad Fahd al-Juwayed (40), a sergeant in the National Guard, was in contact with hostile states and the Iraqi intelligence services," said the statement carried by the official KUNA news agency. - (AFP)