Saudis Say Would Back U.N. Action Against Iraq

September 16, 2002
 
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia would back U.N. sanctioned action against Iraq but not a unilateral U.S. attack, a senior Saudi diplomatic official said on Monday.

The Saudi official was responding to questions about a CNN interview at the weekend in which Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal indicated Saudi Arabia could allow the use of bases on its soil for an attack on Iraq.

The Saudi official underlined that the foreign minister was referring to implementation of a possible U.N. Security Council resolution against Iraq and not unilateral U.S. action.

"Saudi Arabia rejects any unilateral attack that has no international cover," the diplomat told Reuters by telephone from Riyadh.

"The shift is in the American position, not the Saudi position," he said in reference to current U.S. attempts to lobby the Security Council to order Iraq to destroy weapons of mass destruction, rather than acting alone.

"We have always been opposed to a unilateral attack against Iraq," the official added.

Prince Saud, asked by CNN if Saudi Arabia would allow the use of its bases for a campaign against Iraq, said:

"If the United Nations takes a decision by the Security Council to implement a policy of the U.N., every country that has signed the charter of the U.N. has to fulfil it.

"A decision of the Security Council under Chapter Seven is binding on every member country," the minister said, referring to the chapter that sanctions the use of force in case a member state refused to comply with the Council's resolutions. Saudi Arabia was the main launch pad for forces of the U.S.-led alliance in the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq.

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