Saint Petersburg: The leaders of France, Germany and Russia on April 12 wound up a
two-day "peace camp" summit on Iraq stressing the primacy of Law as embodied in the
United Nations as the means of resolving global crises.
Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Jacques Chirac of France and German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder demanded a central role for the world body in the
reconstruction of Iraq but implicitly acknowledged their powerlessness by ending
their meeting without a joint declaration.
Putin told an audience of jurists at the Saint Petersburg Law Faculty that the three
leaders, who had strongly opposed the US-led drive to war on Baghdad without UN
approval, agreed that only the UN could oversee the rebuilding of Iraq.
"The United Nations must play a central role to assure Iraq's sovereignty," said
Chirac.
In comments likely to further strain relations with Washington, the three leaders
said the future world order was at stake as only the United Nations could ensure
that Iraq's reconstruction was taking place within the framework of international
Law.
Schroeder, who was awarded an honorary Law Degree from the university where Putin
himself once studied, stressed that "the UN Security Council must confer legitimacy"
on any reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
"The United Nations is the only organisation that rests on universal and co-
operative notions," he said.
All three countries lobbied furiously against a draft UN resolution that would have
authorised military force against Iraq, arguing that disarmament of Iraq was being
achieved by peaceful means through the work of UN weapons inspectors.
