|
|
Reuters | Ananova | Sky News | Photos Thursday March 20, 12:26 PM |
LONDON (Reuters) - Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has urged a deeply
divided Europe to pull together to bring humanitarian relief and
reconstruction to Iraq after the current conflict is over.
Speaking before he and Prime Minister Tony Blair meet other European
leaders in Brussels, Straw said London would argue for "the European
community to come together and recognise that we have a common agenda,
working for the humanitarian relief of Iraq and its reconstruction".
He told a news conference on Thursday: "Europe is much more effective
when it is united than when it is divided."
The Iraq issue has split the EU down the middle and made a mockery of
its dream of a common foreign policy.
Straw insisted there was wide international support for Thursday's
morning's first strikes on Iraqi targets.
Fourteen of the 25 nations which will make up the European Union after
10 mostly East European countries sign up to join the bloc next month
backed the attacks, Straw said.
He added that Britain had committed 20 million pounds to preparation
for immediate humanitarian relief and had earmarked a further 60 million
pounds for later humanitarian operations.
"It's a mark of the appalling record of (Iraqi President) Saddam
Hussein that Iraq is a prosperous country which has been reduced to
penury, not least by the huge sums wasted on wars and on the development
of mass destruction," he said.
Straw said Britain would seek a new U.N. resolution to deal with the
post-conflict reconstruction of Iraq and insisted Saddam had left the
British and Americans with "no option but to use force".
"Our message to the Iraqi people is 'We are with you,'" he said.
Straw acknowledged the Iraq issue had opened up a split between
Britain, which has backed the hawkish U.S. stance from the outset, and
France which opposes military action and whose veto threat helped sink any
second U.N. resolution.
But he expressed confidence Paris and London could work together and
patch up their differences. "I think we will get through," he said.
|
|
More From > Top Stories
Yahoo! Full
Coverage > Iraq Conflict:
Humanitarian Impact
Yahoo! Full
Coverage > Labour Party
News
Yahoo! Full
Coverage > Iraq
News |
|
of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Reuters Limited.
We also welcome your comments & suggestions. News Survey - Have your say! |
Copyright © 2003 Yahoo! UK Limited. All rights reserved. |