Britain and US corral votes for resolution
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Your support makes all the difference.The United Nations Security Council will discuss for the first time today the draft second resolution over Iraq amid diplomatic arm-twisting from Britain and America, who want a majority vote that would pave the way for military action to oust Saddam Hussein.
As diplomats prepared to consider the draft circulated on Monday by the US, Britain and Spain, a separate plan that would give Iraq further time to disarm was floated by Canada. Its proposal would give Iraq until the end of March to complete a list of disarmament tasks identified by United Nations weapons inspectors. The Security Council would then be asked to vote on whether President Saddam was complying.
However, the future of Canada's proposals appears uncertain because the main battle for votes looks likely to be dominated by the draft second resolution. There were indications yesterday that carrot-and-stick efforts to persuade "swing" members to adopt the American-British plan were having some success as Mexico announced what appeared to be a shift in policy.
In a low-key address made on Tuesday and reiterated in a confidential foreign policy directive leaked to the media, Vicente Fox, the Mexican President, said his country's main national interest lay in a good relationship with Washington. The directive came after a flurry of conversations between Mexico and the US, including a call to the Mexican leader from President Bush.
The Chilean President, Ricardo Lagos, had a call from the leader of the anti-war camp, President Jacques Chirac of France, on Tuesday. The other swing voters – Guinea, Angola, Cameroon and Pakistan – are also being courted by both sides. France, which has veto power in the Security Council, held a parliamentary debate yesterday in which MPs from across the spectrum supported M. Chirac's lineagainst military action in Iraq
France, backed by Germany, Russia and China, maintains that no second resolution is needed as long as the inspections have a chance of success if they are given enough time. Britain and America need nine votes and no vetoes to pass their resolution. To date, they can rely only on the votes of Spain and Bulgaria.
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