France sides with US by supporting call to lift sanctions

France proposed suspending sanctions against Iraq as soon as possible yesterday. The move seemed aimed equally at boosting the speed of reconstruction and mending some of the damage done to relations between Paris and Washington in the run-up to the war.

The surprise initiative came from the French ambassador to the UN, Jean-Marc de La Sablière. While America also urged an end to the sanctions last week, Russia and some other Security Council members would like to wait until UN inspectors have certified Iraq free of banned weapons.

"We should immediately suspend the sanctions," M. de la Sablière said after a meeting of the Council in New York. He added that the UN's oil-for-food scheme, which pays for humanitarian supplies from Iraq's crude oil sales, should be adjusted, "with a view of a phasing out of this programme".

Soon after the ambassador spoke, the French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, reasserted the new French position during a visit to Turkey. "We believe, of course respecting the international legality, we should as fast as possible try to lift these sanctions," M. de Villepin told reporters.

Before the outbreak of hostilities in Iraq, France and Russia were leading the anti-war camp in the Security Council and the bitter arguments left a deep chill on US-French relations. By siding with Washington now on this issue, France may be hoping to start a thaw.

When asked about the French manoeuvre, the Russian UN ambassador, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow was "not at all opposed to the lifting of sanctions". But he said Russia still wanted UN inspectors to certify that Iraq had been disarmed of all weapons of mass destruction, as required under UN resolutions. "What we are insisting on is that Security Council resolutions must be implemented," he added.

France still spoke also last night of the need for UN inspectors to return to Iraq to help verify any evidence of weapons of mass destruction that might be found. M. de La Sablière said the presence of the UN inspectors, headed by Hans Blix, would be vital "so that the Iraqi disarmament could be internationally verified".

America remained cool on the idea of giving Mr Blix and his teams any kind of role in Iraq in seeking the banned weapons. This reflects the view of many in the Bush administration that the UN should be kept out of post-conflict Iraq as much as possible.

But the US ambassador publicly welcomed the shift from France on suspending sanctions, which were first imposed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. Saying that the measures should be suspended as soon as possible, he added that the US was looking "to working together with the delegation of France and other delegations towards that end".

But diplomats said that it was likely to be at least a month before any agreement on ending sanctions is likely to emerge from the Council, which faces many other wrangles over Iraq. Not least will be overcoming US hostility to Mr Blix returning to Iraq. Without a compromise, Russia and others may hold up progress on sanctions.

The UN also faces long talks on the oil-for-food programme. Many Council members hostile to the war on Iraq are likely to favour maintaining the scheme – and thus UN control of Iraq's oil revenues – for some time.