French President Jacques Chirac says he's likely to go to New York on Tuesday for the Security Council vote on a new US pro-war resolution and has told advisers he has already invited Russian President Vladimir Putin and German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to accompany him. Presidential diplomatic advisers have told Dawn that Mr Chirac "could very well go" to New York to cast France's veto, but that the president would "prefer making the trip to New York to relish the victory of the Franco-German-Russian position" following a simple vote by the Security Council's fifteen permanent and non-permanent members.
Indeed, say the advisers, the French president is "fairly confident" that the joint Franco-German-Russian opposition to a US resolution will result in a clear-cut defeat that will not require use of France's veto, nor those of Russia or for that matter China's. They say Mr Chirac is "eagerly awaiting" the outcome of the mission to Africa by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on Sunday and Monday. The foreign minister has been instructed by his president to "come back with at least two" of the Security Council votes to be cast by three states: Cameroon, Guinea and Angola.
Cameroon, whose president Paul Biya is a faithful ally of France, is likely to support the French position on a war with Iraq, but Mr de Villepin is leaving Paris absolutely uncertain, says one of the sources. If Mr de Villepin comes back with only Cameroon's vote, advisers say, the US may lose the Security Council vote anyway. But even if he doesn't, Mr Chirac will be ready to pull out his veto. |