The situation that has now arisen may have serious consequences for the civilian population of Iraq, but also for the United Nations. The Government regrets this. However, it is Saddam Hussein who bears the ultimate responsibility for the situation.
Iraq has refused to comply with the clear and unequivocal demands laid down by a unanimous Security Council in several binding resolutions. Iraq has furthermore not fulfilled the promise it gave in writing to the UN Secretary-General on 14 November, namely to unconditionally and fully cooperate with the UN weapons inspectors.
It is of utmost importance that the Security Council stands firm and united behind the demand that its resolutions must be complied with. Iraq's capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction must be eliminated. Saddam Hussein has previously demonstrated that he was prepared to use these horrific weapons even against the population of his own country.
In a situation, therefore, where serious violations of these resolutions had been established and all diplomatic possibilities had been exhausted, Sweden would have been prepared to support a decision in the Security Council on military measures against Iraq.
Unfortunately, the Security Council was not given an opportunity to consider the latest reports from UNSCOM and the IAEA and the Secretary-General's letter relating to these. It was therefore not possible for the Council to make a full assessment of Iraq's actions or of the measures they should have led to. Sweden regrets that the Security Council was faced by a fait accompli as a result of the air strikes.
Sweden has continually given its strong support to the efforts of the UN Secretary-General to secure compliance on the part of Iraq. Like Kofi Annan, we note that tomorrow, as previously, humanitarian relief and diplomatic healing will be needed.
In this work, the UN will continue to be indispensable.