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U.N. votes tough resolution on Iraq

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington, Nov. 8. The United Nations Security Council has unanimously voted on a tough new Iraq resolution that warns the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, that he must disarm or face ''serious consequences''. All 15 members of the Council voted for the resolution. At the White House, the President, George W. Bush, argued that Mr. Hussein's cooperation must be ''prompt and unconditional'' or he will face the ''severest consequences''.

Iraq has now until November 15 to say whether it will abide by the U.N. Resolution 1441. ''Iraq will certainly study the resolution and decide whether we can accept'', remarked its top envoy to the world body, Mohammad Al-Douri. If Baghdad subscribes to the terms of the resolution, an advance team of weapons inspectors could be on the ground by the end of the month, it is being said.

The unanimous vote at the Security Council comes after eight weeks of intense negotiations between the United States and Britain on the one hand and Russia, France and China on the other, the latter seeking major changes to the original draft, presented by the Bush administration. While the onus is now fully on Iraq and its leader to adhere to the terms and conditions of the new resolution, diplomats believe that in agreeing to change some of the language, the Bush administration has placed the world body at the centre of the ongoing dispute.

Washington has not agreed to two resolutions that some like France wanted, but the impression is that the Security Council will be taken into confidence on any future course of military action against Iraq.

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