LJUBLJANA, March 20 (Hina) - The Slovene government on Thursday expressed regret at the start of war in Iraq and the lack of unity in the international community regarding ways to solve the Iraqi crisis.
LJUBLJANA, March 20 (Hina) - The Slovene government on Thursday
expressed regret at the start of war in Iraq and the lack of unity in
the international community regarding ways to solve the Iraqi
crisis. #L#
Premier Anton Rop told reporters this morning that Slovenia was not
participating in the attack on Iraq nor was it tacitly supporting
it. Nevertheless, it was willing to participate, in line with its
potential, in the post-war reconstruction of Iraq and assistance to
its civilian population and was considering joining an European
initiative for help to refugees, he said.
Rop said his government wanted to make it clear that Slovenia was in
no way involved in the war against Iraq and was not among the 30
countries which supported the US operation nor among the 15
countries which, according to the US, had expressed tacit support
to the operation.
Commenting on the start of the war, Rop said that the security
situation in Slovenia "has not deteriorated significantly" and was
"relatively good", but measures would be taken to minimise possible
risks.
Asked about a US request for arms transit through Slovenia, Rop said
there had been no new requests, but Slovenia believed that "for the
time being" there were no conditions for such transit to be approved
as it was not based on the U.N. Security Council decision.
(hina) rml sb