United Nations: Tension was clearly visible as 11 foreign ministers and one deputy
foreign minister of member states of the 15-member Security Council gathered on
March 7 to hear chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed el Baradei.
The threat by American President George W Bush on the eve of the crucial Council
meeting to take military action with or without United Nations cast its shadow over
the delegates.
This could be the last high-level meeting before the US takes military action,
diplomats noted.
Attending the meeting were United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, Foreign
Ministers Jack Straw (Britain), Igor S Ivanov (Russia), Dominique Calouzeau de
Villepin (France), Tang Jiaxuan (China), Farouk al-Sahara (Syria), Joschka Fischer
(Germany), Luis Ernesto Derbez (Mexico), Soledad Alvear Valenzuela (Chile), Ana
Palacio (Spain) and Francois Lonseny Fall (Guinea).
Angola has sent its Deputy Foreign Minister Georges Chikoti. Pakistan, Cameroon and
Bulgaria were represented by their Ambassadors to the United Nations.
PTI
