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World Countries Snub U.S. Request To Expel Iraqi Diplomats
PARIS, March 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - In a new diplomatic stunt for the United States, a growing numbers of countries on Friday, March 21, snubbed a U.S. request to expel Iraqi diplomats as the U.S.-led occupation forces pushed into Iraq for a second day of unjustified invasion.
Strong anti-war governments such as France, Germany, and Russia rejected the request to close Iraq's embassies and expel its diplomats until new authorities were installed in Baghdad, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"France has been asked by the American authorities to expel Iraq diplomats and shut the embassy," said foreign ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau.
"France believes this request is a matter of sovereignty.
At the moment there is no reason to respond positively," he stressed.
On Thursday, March 20, the U.S. State Department said it had instructed embassies in the 62 nations where Iraq has a diplomatic presence to ask the host governments to suspend the accreditation of ambassadors for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and expel his senior diplomats.
Illegal
Russia, another outspoken opponent to the U.S-led aggression against Iraq, said it will refuse any demands to expel Iraqi diplomats.
"If we were to receive such a request, it would have no legal force and we would react accordingly," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told reporters in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.
Asked whether Russia would back a new regime installed in Baghdad as a result of the U.S.-led war, Ivanov said that "any actions taken in regard to Iraq, or inside Iraq, (should) be taken on a legal basis."
Russia has said that the current military campaign has no legal basis, and Ivanov told the Russian parliament that Moscow, along with other countries opposed to the invasion, would ask the United Nations to rule on whether the U.S.-led war is legal.
Germany Has No Plans
Germany has "no current plans" to comply with a new U.S. request to expel Iraqi diplomats, a foreign ministry spokesman said Friday.
"We have been informed of the U.S. request, but there are no current plans to take any action," the spokesman said.
Portugal Turns Down Request
Portugal, a staunch supporter of the U.S. hard-line policy on Iraq, said Friday that it would not expel Iraqi diplomats as requested by Washington.
"We do not intend to close Iraq's embassy nor are there any motives to expel the Iraqi diplomats," the Lusa news agency quoted Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso as saying at a meeting of E.U. leaders in Brussels.
"No Reason"
The Netherlands government has rejected a request by Washington to expel all Iraq diplomats currently on Dutch soil, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
"We got the request but we do not see any reason at this moment to expel the personnel of the Iraqi embassy," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hannah Tijmes said.
Indonesia Adamant
Indonesia also dismissed the American call for countries to sever diplomatic relations with the Iraqi regime and said it would not ask Iraqi diplomats to leave.
"There's no need for that," foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told a press conference, adding a third country should not tell Indonesia how to conduct its relations with foreign missions.
"That issue is something to be decided by the host country and the related country," he asserted.
"It is not for a third country to recommend us to take or not take action as far as foreign missions in Indonesia are concerned," he stressed.
Malaysia To Maintain Iraq Ties
Malaysia refused sever ties with the ruling Iraqi regime and shut down the Iraqi mission here as demanded by the United States.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Kuala Lumpur does not see any reason why it should end ties with Baghdad or expel Iraqi diplomats from Malaysia.
"Our position remains the same.
We see no reason why we should break ties with Baghdad.
We have not severed our ties or closed our embassy," he told reporters in the new administrative capital south of Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia has condemned the U.S.-led aggression against Iraq and calling it a "black mark in history" that would undermine the campaign against terrorism.
Iraqi Mission Opened
Kenya said Friday it would ignore any U.S. request to shut down and freeze the assets of Iraqi diplomatic mission, stressing it took a neutral stance in the war.
"The government has not received any formal request from the U.S. request to shut down Iraq's embassy in Kenya, and even if it did, it shall ignore it.... we will not close it," said a government official who asked not to be named.
"Our policy is to retain 'positive neutrality' in the crisis in Iraq in order to avoid falling victim to some obvious repercussions," the official added.
Iraq has a diplomatic presence in 63 countries, via 56 embassies, six special interests sections and one consulate, and is also represented at the United Nations.
http://www.islamonline.net/english/News/2003-03/21/article12.shtml
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