The United States has given copies of Iraq's arms declaration to other permanent UN Security Council members in Washington.
A British diplomat said Britain got its copy about 18 hours after the United States removed the only complete copy of the declaration from UN headquarters soon after it arrived in New York.
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Copies of Iraq's arms declaration which were given to other permanent UN Security Council members in Washington.
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A French diplomat said "for technical reasons and for security, the copies were made in Washington. They were done as quickly as possible and in the requisite conditions of security".
He said there were "no Franco-American problems," following claims by other diplomats that the United States had upset many members of the UN Security Council by taking the declaration. Syria has protested at the US decision to limit access to the five permanent members of the council.
It was not possible to confirm the two other permanent council members - China and Russia - had received copies.
This month's council president, Mr Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia, had earlier said members with special expertise in weapons proliferation - the nuclear-armed permanent five - would get the declaration first.
The 10 non-permanent members will received sanitised versions later.
A US State Department spokesman earlier said Washington had been asked to make copies of the document - running to 12,000 printed pages and several computer discs - for other council members.
Iraq gave two copies of the declaration to UN inspectors in Baghdad on Saturday, one day before the deadline set by council Resolution 1441, which warned of "serious consequences" if it gave a partial or inaccurate account of its weapons programmes.
AFP