SYRIA: Syria instructed its UN staff to boycott yesterday's Security Council talks on Iraq's arms declaration in protest at receiving an excised copy of the text.
"The foreign ministry asked its permanent delegation in New York not to participate in the Security Council discussion regarding the Iraqi declaration on weapons of mass destruction after Syria returned yesterday the abridged copy," the official SANA news agency said.
Syria sent its copy back to UN inspection commissions on Wednesday, saying it wanted the same uncensored 12,000-page version the five permanent Security Council members had received, after getting only about 3,500 pages.
A November UN resolution gave Baghdad until December 8th to declare any weapons of mass destruction it may possess and detail its weapons programmes. The United States has vowed to disarm Iraq by force unless it complied in full.
"The Syrian Arab Republic announces that it will not be a party to the conclusions that will be reached in the Security Council since it has not looked at the full copy of the Iraqi declaration," SANA said.
Temporary Security Council member Norway, which like Syria criticised a ruling granting full access to Iraq's dossier only to permament Council members, said it did not plan to follow Syria in its boycott, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
The council's five permanent members - the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France - obtained the full document more than a week ago.
But the other 10 elected council members, including Ireland, received a report with material deleted that could contribute to building weapons of mass destruction and the names of foreign companies that had helped Iraq build its arsenal.
"Syria doubts that the report will be discussed in an honest and rational way, especially after the United States and Britain have already announced that the report had shortcomings," said Mr Imad Shueibi, a Syrian political analyst close to Damascus's thinking.
"This meeting is a preparation for speedy war. . .Syria will not take part in such a farce. This is the message."
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday most people believed Washington was confronting Baghdad because of oil.