The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Monday to discuss a joint statement issued by leaders of the United States, Britain, Spain and Portugal at the end of an emergency summit meeting in Azores Islands, Portugal, to demand immediate and unconditional Iraqi disarmament.
The Security Council will hold consultations after US President George W. Bush said in Azores that the 15-nation body must agree on Monday on a new resolution authorizing war against Iraq, and left no doubt that if not, the United States and its like-minded allies will move to invade Iraq without UN backing.
The joint statement said that Iraq must disarm and that in the event of war, any military presence in the country would be temporary and for destruction of weapons of mass destruction.
(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2003)
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