AFP �[ SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2002 08:16:11 AM ]

CAIRO: Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal has said that Baghdad had accepted the United Nation's new resolution on Iraqi disarmament after obtaining assurances from UN security council member Syria, that the resolution did not forsee automatic recourse to military action.

"The Arab ministers welcomed Iraq's acceptance of resolution 1441, following assurances from Syria that this resolution does not provide for automatic military action (against Baghdad)," the minister told reporters in Cairo on Saturday.

He was speaking after a meeting of Arab league foreign ministers at the league's headquarters in the Egyptian capital.

The ministers are due to hold a meeting on Sunday.

-- Anonymous, November 09, 2002