Iraqi lawmakers gathered Monday for an emergency session called by President Saddam Hussein to consider a response to a U.N. resolution.
The debate starts on Monday night after the iftar meal breaking the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, sources said. The meeting of the 250-member parliament was expected to start at around 1600 GMT, some two hours after iftar, which is due at 1410 GMT Monday in Baghdad.
"As on previous similar occasions, the National Assembly is expected to express support for Iraq's leadership and mandate it to take the decision it deems to be in the interest of the Iraqi people," a source close to parliament told AFP.
Officials in Russia on Monday urged Baghdad to cooperate with inspectors, saying the resolution reduced the threat of war. "Much will depend on how the Iraqi side behaves," Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov told the ITAR-Tass news agency.
In Cairo, Arab foreign ministers ended Sunday a two-day meeting with a final statement that seeks to avoid U.S.-Iraq confrontation. It urged Baghdad and the United Nations to work together to implement the resolution and calls on the United States to commit to pledges it gave Syria that the resolution could not be used to justify military action.
"In our deliberations, the consensus was to deal with the Security Council resolution, accepting its direction, and this is left for the government of Iraq to decide," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters late Sunday after the meeting concluded.
The Arab ministers put forward a united position of "absolute rejection" of any military action against Iraq, saying it represents a threat to the security of all Arab nations.
They also demanded Arab specialists to be included on U.N. weapons inspection teams, and called on the Security Council to require Israel to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction.
Meanwhile, US and British warplanes late Sunday attacked two anti-aircraft missile sites in southern Iraq, using precision-guided weapons, after they assumed what was deemed a threatening position toward the allies under UN rules, the US Central Command announced. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
