RUSSIA: Russian, French and Chinese officials, meeting to discuss US plans for Iraq, backed a lead role for the United Nations in rebuilding the country and urged the international community to avoid a repeat of the infighting that flared over the war, writes Dan McLaughlin in Moscow.
The talks came after the United States asked the UN to accept a largely advisory role in an Iraq occupied by US and British forces for at least a year, giving the two nations control over restarting Iraq's oil industry and spending its earnings. Senior US and Chinese officials are due in Moscow this week to discuss the proposal.
While encouraging dialogue and sounding less confrontational than on recent occasions, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Yuri Fedotov said Washington had work to do convincing veto-wielding Security Council members Russia, France and China of the wisdom of its plan.
"The US-proposed draft resolution ... has a lot of uncertainties that need to be dealt with ... \ failing to provide a clear picture of the transition from the UN oil-for-food programme to the lifting of international sanctions against Iraq," Mr Fedotov said on Saturday, after talks with the French and Chinese ambassadors to Moscow.
A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said Moscow and Paris still believed in the "importance of a full role for the UN" in rebuilding Iraq.