UN Member States Condemn US-led Invasion of Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 27, 2003

UN Member States Condemn US-led Invasion of Iraq

Condemnations of the United States-led invasion of Iraq and calls for its immediate end dominated an open debate of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday.

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Condemnations of the United States-led invasion of Iraq and calls for its immediate end dominated an open debate of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday.

"The aggression against Iraq was not only a violation of the UNCharter and the principle of international law, but a threat to international peace and security as well," said Yahya Mahmassani, permanent observer of the League of Arab States.

"We call for the unconditional withdrawal of US and British forces from Iraq and held them responsible for all the repercussions of the aggression," he said.

He urged the Security Council to adopt a resolution calling foran immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of invading forces.

"How could the council remain silent while an unjust war was being waged?" he asked.

"The credibility of the council, the credibility of the whole international system, is collapsing under the bombing of Basra andBaghdad."

Mahmassani's sentiment was echoed by a vast majority of the 28 speakers who took the floor Wednesday.

The two-day debate, called by the League of Arab States and theNon-Aligned Movement (NAM), was the first since the United States and Britain launched war against Iraq without prior UN approval.

About 36 other speakers were scheduled to address the council Thursday. The number of speakers could rise as council rules allowother speakers to add their names to the list after a meeting begins.

Speaking on behalf of the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement, Malaysian Ambassador Rastam Hohd Isa said the US-declared right topre-emptive attack is "not acceptable" and "threatens the basis ofthe international law."

"The unilateral military action was an illegitimate act of aggression," he said. "The war against Iraq should never have started in the first place, and should end immediately."

South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo cautioned the council from being drawn into drafting a resolution that would provide tacit or implied approval for military operations currently under way in Iraq.

Kumalo was referring to a draft resolution which the council planned to adopt to adjust the oil-for-food program under the current circumstances.

The resolution must uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, and "ensure that the natural resources of Iraq remain in the hands of its people," he stressed.

Only a few speakers, including the envoys from Kuwait, Australia and Poland, spoke out for the US-led war, and blamed theIraqi government itself for the conflict.

Kuwaiti Ambassador Mohammad Abulhasan said the military operation in Iraq came "as a result of Iraq's persistence in rejecting Security Council resolutions concerning elimination of weapons of mass destruction."

Kuwait, which was occupied by Iraq for seven months in 1991, served as a springboard for the US-led invasion.

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