Statement

We have taken note of the Arab and Turkish colleagues' statement  published on 1 February 2003 in their Democratic Iraq Initiative, and its welcome by leading Iraqis. 

We support their appeal to avoid an all-out war which will lead to the death of many innocent Iraqis, and to exacerbated tensions in the region. We also support their call for the dismissal from power of the leader of the Iraqi regime and his aides. We call specifically for a diplomatic action of the international community to prevent the continued use by Saddam Hussein of his apparatus of repression, notably his superior military means domestically to continue its hold on power, including the threat of using again his weapons of mass destruction against his people.

We emphasise in this regard Saddam Hussein's continued breach of numerous Security  Council Resolutions, notably Resolution 688 (5 April 1991) that requests the Iraqi government "to cease the repression of its people". For this purpose, we call upon the European governments and  the international community to  provide the least violent means to prevent the continuation of  Saddam Hussein's repression, specifically by enlarging the concept of safe haven in all parts of the country by way of no-drive zones from which the introduction and use of heavy weaponry and military vehicles of the regime would be strictly forbidden. 

In the same spirit, we also support the immediate stationing of human  rights monitors to facilitate the turning of a new page for the peoples of Iraq, and to provide tangible mechanisms to secure the basic rights of  individuals and communities in a country that deserves a better future after thirty five years of relentless dictatorship. 

We therefore call upon the Organization on Security and Co-operation in Europe and the European Union to adopt these measures as a common European policy, and to help incorporate them in a Security Council Resolution.