UNITED KINGDOM/ UNITED STATES/ JORDAN: THE UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN REACT CAUTIOUSLY TO IRAQI ACCEPTANCE OF SOVIET PEACE PROPOSALS

Record ID: 899199

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/ UNITED STATES/ JORDAN: THE UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN REACT CAUTIOUSLY TO IRAQI ACCEPTANCE OF SOVIET PEACE PROPOSALS
  • Date: 22nd February 1991
  • Summary: (FEBRUARY 22, 1991) BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM (VISNEWS BELFAST) GV AND SV HELICOPTER IN AIR AND SECURITY MAN ON GROUND (2 SHOTS) GV PRIME MINISTER MAJOR STEPPING OUT OF HELICOPTER CU PRIME MINISTER MAJOR COMMENTING MAJOR: THERE ARE SOME NEW PROPOSALS ABOUT THAT HAVE BEEN PRODUCED. WE ARE ANALYSING THOSE, WE ARE EXAMINING THEM. THEY ARE AN ADVANCE ON WHAT WE HAD BEFORE. THEY ARE STILL SOME WAY SHORT OF THE UN RESOLUTIONS. THEY DO SEEM TO HAVE SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCIES IN THEM AND AS OF THE MOMENT WE DON'T KNOW WHETHER THE IRAQIS ARE PREPARED TO ACCEPT THEM. NOW WHAT WE WILL DO THIS MORNING IS ANALYSE THOSE, EXAMINE THEM AND I WILL GO BACK TO LONDON ROUND ABOUT LUNCHTIME. I WILL HAVE SOME MEETINGS WITH COLLEAGUES. I WILL LIAISE WITH THE OTHER COLLEAGUES AND THEN WE WILL MAKE SOME JUDGEMENTS BUT IT IS TOO EARLY TO MAKE THOSE YET. (ENGLISH)
  • Embargoed: 6th July 2005 15:10
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES/ AMMAN, JORDAN
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1IIPXKDZL4QF8IVWJ4Y4N1GJK
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: The United States, and Britain reacted with caution on Friday (February 22) to Iraq's acceptance of Soviet proposals for a peaceful settlement to the Gulf war.

    British officials said that United States (US) President George Bush and British Prime Minister John Major had conferred for 15 minutes on Friday morning and agreed a statement to be released later that day.

    Earlier, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the Soviet peace proposals were a step forward but did not go far enough and were no reason to stop the Gulf War.

    Fitzwater said in Washington that Bush, in a 33-minute telephone conversation with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, had raised "serious concerns" about the peace proposals. He said the president would consult with allied leaders to formulate a response.

    British Prime Minister John Major, arriving in Belfast, Northern Ireland for a brief visit, said that ending the war depended on meeting the United Nations Security Council resolutions, and "they have not been met".

    He said the Soviet proposals seemed "to fall a significant way short of the United Nations resolutions", and appeared "on the basis of the analysis we've done thus far, to have some very significant deficiencies in them."
    But King Hussein of Jordan welcomed the plan, saying that he was full of optimism and hope at developments at hand. The King told a news conference he hoped to witness "the breaking of a new dawn."
    He said he believed the Soviet plan met the requirements of United Nations Security Council resolution 660 for full Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait.
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