By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 27 2001 (IPS)

China, Egypt, Iran and Pakistan are calling for a U.N.-sponsored coalition against terrorism. The move offers the world body a chance to reassert itself but Washington has some reservations.

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the largest and militarily strongest country in the Arab world, has said he will not join any coalition that is not under the aegis of the United Nations.

China, Pakistan and Iran have expressed similar sentiments and called for an international coalition under a broad U.N. umbrella.

Such a coalition, diplomats said, would automatically rule out unilateral U.S. military action against the Taliban government, accused of harbouring Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.

Washington believes bin Laden is hiding deep inside Afghanistan. It suspects him of masterminding Sep. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

A senior State Department official said the U.S. administration welcomes a more active role for the United Nations – as long as it does not interfere with Washington’s right to use military force against terrorists.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday the struggle against terrorism would be “a long one embracing all countries”.

He did not rule out various groups coming together to do specific things – such as sharing information and intelligence – but said he still wanted to see “a broader coalition of U.N. membership determined to do whatever they can to end this terrorist scourge.”

Following the attacks, both the 189-member General Assembly and the 15-member Security Council unanimously adopted resolutions condemning the acts of terrorism. There has been no follow up since.

The Security Council adopted a resolution Sep. 12 expressing readiness to “take all necessary steps” to respond to the attacks. The U.S. administration has interpreted the Security Council resolution as carte blanche to conduct military action.

In early 1991, the Security Council gave its blessings to a U.S.- led coalition to dislodge Iraqi troops who had invaded Kuwait in August 1990. In 1999, the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) launched military attacks on Kosovo without Security Council authorisation.

Washington has argued it has a right to militarily respond to the terrorist attacks because article 51 of the U.N. charter allows a state to defend itself against armed attack.

In contrast to the Security Council resolution passed Sep. 12, the General Assembly appealed urgently for “international cooperation” to prevent and eradicate acts of terrorism.

Several member of the Security Council, including Britain and France, are planning to initiate a new resolution next week seeking increased cooperation among member states to combat terrorism.

Italian Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero told reporters Wednesday that a single military act would not resolve the problem. “We need larger action. This is possible only under the aegis of the United Nations,” he said.

Ruggiero added, however, that during his talks with officials in Washington this week, he got the distinct impression that the U.S. administration was acting with “sense of responsibility, a sense of restraint.”

“They are ready and willing to talk to everybody,” Ruggiero added.

The General Assembly is scheduled to meet Oct.1 for a three-day meeting to discuss what measures the international community should take against the growing threat of terrorism worldwide.

The discussion, which had been at the bottom of the General Assembly agenda, was moved up in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks.

A U.N. ad hoc committee on terrorism is expected to meet early next month to help finalise two new international treaties: a Comprehensive Convention Against Terrorism and a Convention Against Nuclear Terrorism.

“We have 12 conventions which are very specific on certain aspects of terrorism, such as money laundering and financial issues,” Annan said. But the Comprehensive Convention will pull it all together in one sort of omnibus convention “which I hope we would be able to make good progress on during this session.”

Annan also said that most governments realise that the international community needs to help the Afghan people.

“It is clear that we should go after the perpetrators and those who committed this crime, but we should also be sensitive to the needs of the Afghan people who have lived through several decades of war, live under a leadership they did not elect freely and cannot remove, and have gone through three years of drought,” he said.

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