12 Mar 2003

Samoa's prime minister calls for consensus at UN over Iraq

11:27 am on 12 March 2003

The prime minister of Samoa, Tuilaepa Sailele, says he supports the democratic right of people to march against war in Iraq.

A March for Peace is to be held in Samoa this weekend and Tuilaepa is to give a keynote address in which he will reiterate the government's stance that no one country should act without U.N. approval.

The prime minister says he will tell people they are doing the right thing by speaking out.

"I would commend them for standing up to the democratic right to freely express their opinion in world matters and of course this being a christian country that love peace I will commend them for taking their stance."

Tuilaepa says common sense should prevail and U.N. weapons inspectors should be given the time to do their job.

The comments come as France and Russia stated that they will veto any resolution put forward by the U.S. and Britain setting a deadline for Iraq to disarm.