Fed: Howard says Iraq must comply with UN resolutions
CANBERRA, Dec 9 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard has called on Iraq to comply fullywith all United Nations' Security Council resolutions.
Mr Howard said it was too early to make a judgment on a 12,000-page dossier releasedby Iraq which it says shows it does not hold weapons of mass destruction.
It is expected to take several days for the dossier, which was released in line witha UN resolution, to be fully analysed.
Mr Howard said he still believed, along with several other nations, that Iraq had biological,nuclear and chemical weapons.
It was now up to Iraq to show it did not have the weapons, and the best way to do thatwas by complying with UN resolutions.
"They should comply in full with every element of the Security Council resolution," he said.
"It is in the hands of Iraq and Saddam Hussein to deliver the avoidance of military conflict."
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the fact Iraq had compiled such a large documentindicated it was at last taking the UN's resolutions seriously.
"On the one hand, the preparation and presentation of the documents does indicate thatIraq is taking at least some steps to comply with resolution 1441," he said.
"There is no doubt though, on the basis of information provided by the Americans andthe British that Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction capability."
The Iraqi declaration will be flown to Vienna, where the International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA) has its headquarters, and to the United Nations in New York.
AAP sw/sdh
KEYWORD: IRAQ AUST DAYLEAD
No comments:
Post a Comment