Consensus on Iraq May Be Reached in UN Security Council

Consensus on the Iraq issue may be found in the UN Security Council already at the beginning of next week, informed diplomatic sources in the UN who wanted to remain unidentified stated late on Thursday night. In their opinion, the USA and Great Britain realise the impossibility to pass the ultimatum-type resolution in the Security Council but are most likely to prefer to act vis-а-vis Iraq within the bounds of legitimacy provided by the decision of the UN Security Council. The sources note that the energetic exchange of views which U.S. President George Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held with their foreign counterparts during the past few days, in particular, influenced the situation.

In this connection the sources suppose that the sponsors of the resolution - the USA, Great Britain and Spain - are highly likely to accept the proposals of the international inspectors which can be submitted to the Security Council late this week or early next week as the basis of the time limits proposed to Baghdad as the last chance.

If the inspectors' proposals form the basis of the schedule of fulfilment of the remaining disarmament tasks by Iraq or if an ultimatum with stringent time limits provides only for accomplishment of a couple of top priority tasks, unity within the Security Council on the Iraq issue can be restored, and the resolution in its new form can be adopted, RIA Novosti's interlocutors noted.