Friday, Mar 11, 2005
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By Vaiju Naravane
MADRID, MARCH 10. The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in Madrid to attend an international conference on terrorism, said on Thursday he was sending a special envoy to Damascus to discuss a timetable for Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon as required by a U.N. Security Council resolution. "What is essential is that full and complete withdrawal takes place. The Government of Syria has not rejected the Security Council resolution", Mr Annan told reporters after his meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
"Respect human rights"
In his keynote speech at the close of an international conference on "Democracy, Terrorism and Security" being held to mark the first anniversary of the March 11 train bombs that killed nearly 200 and injured 2,000 persons, Mr Annan proposed a global strategy for fighting terrorism that called for preventing and confronting it while adhering to human rights principles. High security surrounded the address, attended by King Juan Carlos of Spain, the NATO Secretary-General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the European Commission President, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, and the Presidents of Afghanistan, Algeria, the Dominican Republic, Pakistan and Portugal. On Wednesday and Thursday, delegate after delegate called for action to prevent further unilateral action by the United States. "Europe needs to forgive Bush for being wrong about weapons of mass destruction," the former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, told the summit. "I think there is a small learning curve in this administration that some things cannot be dealt with unilaterally. If there is no support, I think they will go back to their previous bad ways," she warned. However, Ms. Albright said Mr. Bush's recent trip to Europe held out the hope that "we are in for a kinder, gentler trip" in the second term of the President whose "war on terror" and invasion of Iraq led to a bitter rift with much of Europe, notably France and Germany.
U.S. criticised
The former French Foreign Minister, Hubert Vedrine, remarked that while Washington's style had softened, the substance of its policy remained the same. "It is the same policy, it has become more intelligent," he said, urging Washington to "learn to use its power wisely" and suggested that the recent steps towards democratisation in Lebanon would provide an opportunity for France and America to work together.
Mass rally planned
On Friday, Mr. Annan and the other top participants at the conference will attend ceremonies marking the one-year anniversary of the train blasts. million persons are expected to converge on downtown Madrid in a mammoth demonstration of grief and solidarity.
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