May 21, 2003

The Anglican Consultative Council, representative of a worldwide Anglican Communion of 70 million people in 164 countries, reaffirms its full confidence in the authority of the United Nations and the Secretary General to rebuild Iraq in the interests of the Iraqi people and in accordance with international law. It believes that Peace with Justice in Iraq can only be achieved through multilateral cooperation under the sole authority of the United Nations as the truly impartial and representative body of all member states. It therefore calls on all governments to cooperate fully in making sure that the United Nations is given full authority to administer and monitor the rebuilding of Iraq in a way that will maximize benefits to the Iraqi people.

The Anglican Consultative Council also recommends to the United Nations that all sanctions previously imposed by member state governments be lifted immediately in order to remove the hardships experienced by the Iraqi people, who have been further traumatized by the recent war. We see God's tears in the suffering of the population who should be helped immediately to alleviate their situation by being given the ability to determine their own future. They will be helped towards a speedy recovery by being allowed the use of their oil revenues, with the guidance of the United Nations.

The Anglican Consultative Council supports the establishment of a zone of peace throughout the Middle East, especially given the religious importance of the region to all people of faith throughout the world. Hence we call on the members of the Security Council not to vote for the current draft resolution presented by the US government which would give Washington and London broad powers to run Iraq and to use the revenue from oil sales to restore the damage caused by the war in Iraq. It will be incumbent on the US and UK governments to assist the UN to restore peace in Iraq by converting their troops on the ground into UN peace keepers supported by them (US and UK) financially, and by paying for the rebuilding of Iraqi infrastructure.

We believe that the present draft resolution should not be adopted by the Security Council. The right way to proceed in our view would be for the General Assembly to meet immediately under emergency procedures. This would allow all members of the United Nations to have a voice in adopting a resolution that would not only lift sanctions but would also give full authority to the United Nations for the reconstruction of Iraq.

Anglican Communion News Service