US gets European rebuff over Iraq embassy closures

The United States suffered a further diplomatic rebuff in Europe yesterday, with France, Germany and the Netherlands refusing Washington's request to close Iraqi embassies and expel diplomats.

Switzerland said it was considering a US call to freeze assets of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The United States has approached 60 countries, requesting the expulsion of diplomats it says are engaged in espionage. The US State Department has said the Iraqi envoys are a threat to US personnel overseas.

Paris said a question of French sovereignty led it to refuse the US request, while the Netherlands said Iraqi envoys could stay as long as they abide by diplomatic rules.

"We have been asked to expel Iraqi diplomats in Paris. Such a decision concerns our sovereignty. There is no reason to do so," a French Foreign Ministry official told journalists.

Berlin, which has already expelled four Iraqi diplomats, politely said "no thanks" to a US call for it to close Baghdad's mission in Germany.

On the first day of a US-led war against Iraq, the United States said on Thursday it was expelling three Iraqi diplomats based in Washington and appealed to other countries to close down Iraqi embassies on their territory.

"We have no intention at the moment to expel diplomats or close the embassy...we have no reason to do so," Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Bart Jochems told Reuters.

The United States also asked other countries to freeze Iraqi government bank accounts, protect the embassy buildings and ensure their records were not destroyed.

In staunch US-ally Britain, the former Iraqi embassy in London has housed a skeleton staff operating as the Iraqi interests section of the Jordanian embassy.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are not prepared to discuss any contact we may or may not have had with the US regarding the conduct of any Iraqi diplomats in the UK."

Switzerland said it was examining a US request to freeze any bank accounts held by Saddam and people linked to his government.

Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Livio Zanolari said no decision had been made yet. He repeated a previous government statement that there were no indications Saddam had any accounts in Switzerland.

"I can confirm that we have received a request from American authorities to freeze funds held by people connected to the regime of Saddam Hussein," Zanolari told Reuters.

"We have extremely tough legislation in place concerning money of dictators, stronger than in other countries. We have instruments of identification and controls which are extremely strict," he said.

Samir Khair Al-Na'amah, Iraqi ambassador to Switzerland, told the BBC World Service Iraq would complain about the US request to the U.N. Human Rights Committee.

"We hope that something will come out of it condemning this aggressions, reinforcing the Iraqis' rights for self-determination and its freedom to choose its regime and re-affirming the adherence to the Geneva conventions and international humanitarian laws during the war," he said.

"The US request embodies an insolence intended to undermine the Iraqi diplomatic presence abroad because such a presence is bound to expose the US aggression towards Iraq."

France led the anti-war camp that last week thwarted efforts by the United States and Britain to have the United Nations Security Council pass a resolution authorising war against Iraq.

The Netherlands has said it would offer only political support, not military support, to the US-led war in Iraq.